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STRANGE VISITORS: 

A SERIES OF ORIGINAL PAPERS, 



\Jo 



EMBRACING 



PHILOSOPHY, SCIENCE, GOVERNMENT, RELIGION, POETRY, 

ART, FICTION, SATIRE, HUMOR, NARRATIVE, 

AND PROPHECY. 



SPIRITS OF IRVING, WILLIS, THACKERAY, BRONTE, 
RICHTER, BYRON, HUMBOLDT, HAWTHORNE, 
WESLEY, BROWNING, 

AND OTHERS 

gjfoto |to£lliu| in i\t Sprit WnW 



DICTATED THROUGH 

A CLAIRVOYANT, 

WHILE IN AN ABNORMAL OB. TRANCE STATE. 
fa/ 



ft~ t J7 £4~<s\*^ 




NEW YORK: 

PARLETON, j^UBLISHER^ ^MADISON ^SQUARE. 

LONDON : S. LOW, SON, & CO. 

MDCCCLXIX. 









% 



Entered, according to an Act of Congress, in the year 1869, by 

GEORGE W. CARLETON, 

in the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the United States for the Southern District of 

New York. 



Stereotyped at 

The Women's Printing House, 

Eighth Street and Avenue A, 

New York. 



TABLE OF CONTENTS. 



PAGE 

Henry J. Raymond To the New York Public 9 

Margaret Fuller Literature in Spirit Life 22 

Lord Byron To His Accusers 27 

Nathaniel Hawthorne . . Apparitions 29 

Washington Irving Visit to Henry Clay 40 

Napoleon Bonaparte To The French Nation 50 

W. M. Thackeray His Post Mortem Experience 52 

Archbishop Hughes Two Natural Religions 57 

Edgar A. Poe ; . . . The Lost Soul 61 

Jean Paul Bichter Invisible Influences 62 

Charlotte Bronte Agnes Beef. A Tale 65 

Elizabeth B. Browning. . To Her Husband 132 

Artemus Ward In and Out of Purgatory 134 

Lady Blessington Distinguished Women 142 

Professor Olmstead Locality of the Spirit World. .... 149 

Adah Isaacs Menken Hold Me Not 152 

N. P. Willis Off-Hand Sketches 154 

Margaret Fuller City of Spring Garden 166 

Gilbert Stuart Art Conversation. 175 

Edward Everett Government 179 

Frederika Bremer Flight to my Starry Home 184 

(iii) 



iv TABLE OF CONTENTS. 

PAGE 

Eev. Lyman Beecher The Sabbath — Its Uses 190 

Prop. George Bush Life and Marriage 'in Spirit Life, 196 

Junius Brutus Booth Acting by Spirit Influence 202 

Rev. John Wesley Church of Christ 207 

N. P. Willis A Spirit Bevisiting Earth . . 211 

Allan Cunningham Alone 212 

Baron Von Humboldt . . . The Earthquake 213 

Sir David Brewster Naturalness of Spirit Life 216 

H. T. Buckle Mormons 223 

W. E. Burton Drama in Spirit Life 227 

Chas. L. Elliott Painting in Spirit Life 231 

Comedian's Poetry Rollicking Song 235 

Lady Hester Stanhope. .Prophecy 236 

Professor Mitchell The Planets 243 

Dr. John W. Francis. ... Causes of Disease and Insanity. . 246 
Adelaide Procter The Spirit Bride.., , . 250 



INTRODUCTION. 



BY THE EDITOR. 



In placing before the public a work with such novel 
and extraordinary demands upon its consideration, a few 
explanatory words seem appropriate. 

Its title and contents will doubtless at first sight cause 
a smile of incredulity, and will be regarded by many as 
one of the devices which .are sometimes put forward to 
entrap an unsuspecting public into the perusal of a sen- 
sational hoax. 

For a number of years past the community has been 
surprised with accounts of most incredible marvels ; and 
from time to time the press has reported various phe- 
nomena in connection with an unrecognized force and 
intelligence, as occurring in almost every locality through- 
out the habitable globe. 

These phenomena are thought by many to be mere 
illusions, and by some attributed to peculiar electrical 
conditions ; while others seek their solution in an abnormal 
state of the brain ; and others still believe them dependent 
on an actual intercourse between mortals and those who 
have passed beyond the grave. 

(v) 



vi introduction: 

Having become interested in this mysterious and ex- 
citing subject, and finding the means at hand for testing 
the various phenomena, I resolved to undertake a series 
of experiments, with the hope of exposing a delusion, if 
such it were, or perchance, of clearing up a mystery which, 
by the magnitude and importance it has already assumed, 
is disturbing the foundations of old beliefs and steadily 
diffusing its theories and doctrines into the very heart of 
society. 

Among other expedients to attain this end (assuming the 
hypothesis that spirits of the departed were in a condition 
to communicate with mortals), I interrogated, through the 
instrumentality of a clairvoyant gifted with the remark- 
able power of passing at will into an unconscious or trance 
state, the spirits of a number of well-known individuals 
concerning their views and sentiments in their present 
state of existence. 

In response to my questions, an intelligent answer was 
received from the Countess Ossoli (Margaret Fuller) , with 
the assurance that my desire was apprehended and would 
receive the hearty co-operation of those to whom it was 
addressed. 

The process by which the papers were given was that 
of dictation through the clairvoyant while in an abnormal 
or trance condition and with her eyes closed. The matter 
was written in pencil as it fell from her lips, and subse- 
quently transcribed for the press. 

The difficulties attending the transmission of ideas 
through the medium of another mind, even under ordi- 



INTRODUCTION. vu 

nary circumstances, must be apparent to all, and the un- 
prejudiced reader may readily perceive obstacles to the 
literal reproduction of their respective styles and language 
by the various contributors. 

Yet, notwithstanding the impediments to felicity of ex- 
pression, I feel assured that persons at all familiar with 
the characteristics of the originals will readily perceive 
a marked resemblance in style to that of the authors 
named. 

In the delivery of the articles, their composers would 
usually assume or personate their own individual charac- 
teristics; thus, Artemus Ward's conversation and ges- 
tures were exceedingly ludicrous. He was the very per- 
sonification of mirth, occasionally going to the wall and 
humorously iC chalking out" his designs. Archbishop 
Hughes expressed himself in a quiet, earnest, and elo- 
quent manner. Lady Blessington was full of vivacity, and 
Margaret Fuller was our Presiding Angel; while Booth 
would become vehement to an intense degree, and at times 
would mount some article of furniture in the room, becom- 
ing passionately eloquent, as if again upon the "mimic 
stage of life." 

An intelligent public will perceive the mental effort 
incident upon the production of a series of articles so 
unusually varied; embracing the distinctive qualities of 
Philosophy, Science, Religion, Political Economy, Gov- 
ernment, Satire, Humor, Poetry, Fiction, Narrative, Art, 
Astronomy, etc., etc.; and the query has fitly been ad- 
vanced, — what mind, in the exercise of its normal func- 



vm INTRODUCTION. 

tions, — has furnished a consecutive number of essays so 
surprising in novelty, so diverse in sentiment, so consistent 
in treatment, and so forcibly original, as those embraced 
in this volume ? What intellect so versatile as to repro- 
duce in song and narrative the characteristic styles of so 
many, and yet so dissimilar authors ? 

In designating the locality of the Second Life, frequent 
repetition of certain terms, such as spirit world, etc., were 
unavoidable. For weeks and months the unseen visitors 
were punctual to their appointments, and this novel mode 
of book-making proceeded steadily in interest and variety 
until the volume was completed. 

The work is now inscribed to a discriminating public, 
with a lively confidence that the advanced intelligence and 
freedom of the age will yield it an ingenuous reception. 

Henry J. Horn. 
New York, October 1st, 1869. 



STKANGE VISITOKS. 



HEKRT J. RAYMOND. 



TO' THE NEW YORK PUBLIC. 

I have often thought that if it should ever be my 
privilege to become a ghost I would enlighten the 
poor, benighted denizens of the earth as to how I did 
it, and give a more definite account of what I should 
see, and the transformation that would befall me, 
than either Benjamin Franklin or George Washing- 
ton had been able to do in the jargon that had been 
set before me by Spiritualists as coming from those 
worthies. 

" Stuff ! " I have exclaimed again and again, after 
looking over spirit communications and wondering 
why a man should become so stilted because he had 
lost his avoirdupoise. 

The opportunity which I boasted I would not let 
slip has arrived. The public must judge of how I 
avail myself of this ghostly power. 

Now and then I was troubled with strange mis- 
givings about the future life. I had a hope that 



10 HENRY J. RA TMOND. 

man might live hereafter, but death was a solemn 
fact to me, into whose mystery I did not wish too 
closely to pry. 

"Presentiments," as the great English novelist 
remarks, "are strange things." That connection 
with some coming event which one feels like a 
shadowy hand softly touching him, is inexplicable 
to most men. 

I remember to have felt several times in my life 
undefined foreshadowings of some future which was 
to befall me; and just previous to my departure from 
earth, as has been generally stated in the journals of 
the day, I experienced a similar sensation. An 
awful blank seemed before me — a great chasm into 
which I would soon be hurled. This undefined 
terror took no positive shape. 

After the death of my son I felt like one who 
stood upon a round ball which rolled from under 
him and left him nowhere. 

The sudden death of James Harper added another 
shock to that which I had already felt. I did not 
understand then, though I have since compre- 
hended it, that I was like some great tree, rooted 
in the ground, which could not be dragged from the 
earth in which it was buried until it had received 
some sudden blow to loosen its hold and make its 
grip less tenacious. 

But in the very midst of these feelings I sought 
the society of friends, and endeavored around the 
social board to exhilarate my senses and drown these 
undesirable fancies. 

Life seemed more secure among friends, but death 



TO THE NEW YORK PUBLIC. 11 

was not to be dodged. It caught me unarmed and 
alone at midnight in the very doorway of my 
house. 

I had crossed the threshold, and remember trying 
to find the stairs and being seized with a dizziness. 
The place seemed to spin around and I felt that I 
was falling. Next, a great weight seemed to press 
me down like some horrid nightmare. I endeavored 
to groan, to cry out and struggle from under it, but 
it held me fast. After this I seemed to be falling" 
backward through a blackness — an inky blackness. 
It came close to me, and pressed close upon my lips 
and my eyes. It smothered me ; I could not breathe. 

Then ensued a struggle within me such as Lazarus 
might have felt when he endeavored to break through 
his grave cerements. It was frightful, that effort for 
mastery ! 

I understand it now. It was the soul fighting its 
way into birth as a spiritual being, like a child fight- 
ing its way out of its mother's womb. 

I remember feeling faint and confused after that, 
like one who has long been deprived of food. An un- 
consciousness stole over me for a moment, from which 
I was awakened by a sudden burst of light. I seemed 
to open my eyes upon some glorious morning. I felt 
an arm around me ; I turned and met the smiling 
face of my son. I thought myself in a dream, and 
yet I was filled with awe. 

I had a consciousness that some strange trasforma- 
tion had taken place. My son's voice murmured in 
my ear, " Father, go with me now." As he spoke, 
his voice sounded like the vibration of distant bells. 



12 HENRY J. RAYMOND. 

When he touched me a fire seemed to thrill through 
my veins. I felt like a boy ; a wild, prankish sen- 
sation of freedom possessed me. My body lay upon 
the ground. I laughed at it ; I could have taken it 
and tossed it in the air. 

" Come, let's go," said I ; " don't stay here." 

My chief desire was to get out of the house. Like 
a boy who must fly his kite, out I would go. I 
feared I might be caught and taken back if I did 
not hasten, and moved toward the door. The seams 
of that door, which I had always thought well joined, 
seemed now to stand twelve inches or more apart. 
Every atom of that wood which had appeared so solid 
to me was now more porous than any sponge or 
honey-comb. Out we went through the crevice. A 
party of men were standing upon the doorsteps. 
One put forth his hand to grasp mine. I laughed 
aloud when I recognized the person as James Har- 
per! Another was Richmond; another, one of my 
associates in the editorial corps. I was perfectly 
amazed, and set up a hilarious shout, which they 
echoed in great glee. We started forth, a convivial 
party. The atmosphere hung in heavy masses around 
the houses, like the morning mists about the base of 
a mountain. 

We did not walk on the ground ; the air was solid 
enough to bear us. I felt that we were rising above 
the city. My senses seemed magnified. The com- 
prehension of all I did was very acute. We kept 
along the earth's atmosphere for quite a distance. 

"Let 'us sail out," said I, at last. 

" We cannot yet ; we must wait till we reach the 



TO THE NEW YORK PUBLIC. 13 

current. If we go outside of that, we maybe lost in 
the intense cold and the poisonous gases, or we may 
be swallowed up in the vortex of some naming 
comet," answered my wise companions. 

The statement looked very reasonable, so I allowed 
myself to be guided and we soon found ourselves in 
a great belt of light of a pale rose-color, in which we 
sailed seemingly without any effort, moving' the 
hands and arms at times and at other times folding 
them across our breasts. 

As we advanced the channel in which we moved 
increased in depth and brilliancy of color, and I grew 
more and more exhilarated. Finally we paused and 
commenced to descend. The air was very luminous, 
radiating and scintillating like the flashing of dia- 
monds, and so electric that the concussion of sound 
vibrated like the peal from some distant organ. 

Looking down through the glittering atmosphere 
that surrounded me, I perceived what appeared to 
be the uplifting peak of a mountain. A halo of light 
rested upon its summit, and we seemed drawn toward 
it with a gentle force. 

This mountain, I was informed, was one of a mag- 
netic chain which belts the spirit world. In color 
and material it was like an opal. 

I was told that a peculiar sympathy existed be- 
tween it and the human spirit. When individuals 
on earth are in juxtaposition with this mountain they 
feel a strange yearning for the spirit home. 

ISTow then the mysterious riddle is solved, thought 
I ; and this must be the spiritual north pole ! 

We soon stood upon terra-firina, if these translu- 
2 



1 4 IIENR T J. RA YMOND. 

cent rocks could be called terra-firma, which rose in 
glittering and polished peaks all around us. They 
were wonderfully iridescent, so that no bed of gor- 
geously-colored flowers could have filled the eye with 
a greater variety of tints. 

A few steps around a projecting bluff brought us 
within sight of what appeared to me a magnificent 
palace of alabaster. This palace I soon learned was 
a hotel, or place of resort for travellers. 

In ascending its polished steps I was met by some 
half dozen persons whom I had known. You may 
be sure a wonderful handshaking ensued. We re- 
mained here but a few moments, partook of refresh- 
ments, and then proceeded to the court-yard, where I 
was told a car awaited to carry us to our destination. 

The car seemed to be a frame-work, apparently 
of silver wire. We now comfortably seated our- 
selves, when two large wings struck out from it like 
those of some great condor. Yv r e moved rapidly 
over the acclivity. This is a new way of crossing 
the mountains, thought I ; I will have to introduce 
it in the Sierra Xevada and Colorados. 

I inquired how the machine was propelled, and 
was informed, "Simply by a chemical arrangement 
similar to your galvanic battery." 

You may conceive my astonishment when we de- 
scended into a park of a vast city. 

" My God ! " exclaimed I, " it cannot be that I am 
in the spirit world ! Why, look at the houses and 
churches, and temples ! What magnificent build- 
ings ! " But I must say the material alone struck me 
as something sublime and unearthly. So transparent 



TO TEE NEW YORK PUBLIC. 15 

and rich in color, reflecting light as if through a veil 
or mist ! " This caps all," said I, as doctors and law- 
yers, artists and authors, whom I had known, stepped 
up to greet me, smiling and full of life. " Why, how 
is this?" "Is this you?" "Where did you come 
from ? " Questions like these came from all sides. 
Francis and Brady, Willis, Morris, and a host of New 
Yorkers who had slipped out of sight and almost out 
of mind, now gathered around me as if by miracle. 
I rubbed my eyes in wonder. Spying Brown, I cried 
out, " Why, how is this, Brown ? It can't be that I 
am in heaven! Do } r ou have such things here? 
Houses, stores, and works of art on every side ? " 

" Yes ; people must live," said he, " wherever they 
be." 

" And are men here the same, with all their facul- 
ties ? " I asked. 

"Yes; why not? Have you any you'd like to 
lose?" 

I shook my head and walked on absorbed in 
thought. And are all our paraphernalia for funerals, 
our solemn black, and our long prayers but useless 
ceremonies ? Why, according to this, the beliefs of 
the Chinese, Hottentot, African, and Indian are 
nearer the truth than our civilized creeds ! 

I find that there are few things in which society 
in this world so much differs from that of earth 
as in its social and political arrangements. 

All the great system of living for appearances, and 
the habit of self-deception whereby men live out- 
wardly what their secret lives disavow, are here 
entirely done away with. 



16 UENBY J. RAYMOND. 

In the first place the marriage relations differ 
materially from those of earth, and no false sentiment 
nor custom, nor religious belief, holds together as 
companions those who are dissimilar in their nature. 
Neither do men crucify their tastes and feelings 
from a mistaken idea of duty. 

The miseries and disasters which are attendant on 
a life on earth they view as a parent would view the 
whooping-cough or scarlatina which afflict the body 
of his child — as necessary steps toward his growth 
and progress from youth to manhood. 

A remarkable instance of this came under my 
own observation. You remember that the singular 
and sudden death of Abraham Lincoln was a matter 
of surprise to us. We could not see the purpose of 
an all-wise Providence in this sudden closing of an 
eventful career. It was discussed in every news- 
paper in the land, and the conclusion was that the 
Creator had some special purpose in his removal, and 
this we all believed. 

But here the enigma is solved. 

Standing face to face and walking side by side, 
as I have done for the last few days with this man, 
raised as some suppose for the special purpose of 
freeing the slave — a martyr for principle — I find that 
he enjoys as a good joke, this martyrdom, and I have 
also ascertained the solemn fact that he was removed, 
not by God, but by spirit politicians, God's agents. 

And the state of the case is this: the Southern 
rebels, hot-blooded and revengeful, who were arriv- 
ing daily by scores and hundreds, in the spirit world, 
finding their cause discomfited and worsted, became 



TO THE NEW YORK PUBLIC. 17 

mutinous. They were too raw and new to fall into 
the harmony of the spirit life, and they threatened 
a second war in Heaven ; a war which those young 
Lucifers would have waged with terrific power. 

To quell this disturbance and produce a counterac- 
tion, it was necessary that one whom they looked upon 
as the great leader of the Northern cohorts should 
be withdrawn from the post which he occupied. 

A man of calm, dispassionate judgment, not 
vindictive, who could hold the reins with a firm hand, 
yet look with a lenient eye on the follies which he 
did not share, was needed in the spirit world, and 
that man was Abraham Lincoln. 

When those young Southern bloods had conspired 
with their co-patriot to his downfall, had instigated 
and accomplished his assassination, and when he 
appeared in their midst, the simple, unaffected, 
uncrafty man that he was, a revulsion of feeling 
immediately took place. 

The liberal party in the spirit world, friends to 
humanity and progress, could have prevented his 
removal had they wished ; but not desiring to do 
so, they prepared his mind by dreams and visions 
for what was about to take place. 

For a short time in the spirit world he held the 
position of Pacificator and chief ruler over that 
portion of the American spirit world represented by 
the North and South. 

But after averting this peril, which would have 
involved the States in anarchy and war such as they 
had not yet experienced, he retired to private life. 

Another instance, proving that the inhabitants of 



18 HEKBY J. EATMOND. 

the spirit world, like their great prototype, the Crea- 
tor, do not look at immediate distress, but at the 
advantages that may accrue therefrom, presents 
itself in my removal from the sphere in which I 
had probably worked out all that would be useful 
to humanity. 

Like a charge d'affaires called back to Washing- 
ton because he can fill a better post, so I, through 
the solicitations of relatives and fellow-citizens who 
have preceded me to this new world, was called 
here for the purpose of editing a journal and assist- 
ing in ameliorating the condition of the inhabitants 
of the Southern States, and also to use my influence 
in the Congress and Senate at Washington toward 
producing a better comprehension of their needs. 

I have one thing to say to my brother journalist, 
Horace Greeley, and that is that the Utopian ideas 
which have for so many years formed the principal 
topic of his radical sheet are here put in operation. 

Each one seems desirous of cooperating with his 
neighbor, and people of like tastes and feelings asso- 
ciate together and live in vast communities or cities. 
They do not settle down to one routine, as they do 
with you. The cost of travelling depending chiefly 
on the will and energy of the individual, the inhabi- 
tants are ever in motion, ever ready for a change, if 
wisdom or pleasure should dictate it. The condition 
of the common people is vastly improved, and 
America has been the chief agent in placing the 
lower classes in a condition which adapts them to a 
higher spiritualized life. I say lower classes, because 
under the system of monarchical governments, the 



TO THE NEW YORK PUBLIC. 19 

peasants and laborers of Europe have been kept in a 
state of besotted ignorance, developing chiefly in the 
animal propensities, and not fitting themselves for the 
higher enjoyments of the spirit life. 

Finding that the spirit world was likely to be 
overrun by this class of ignorant and superstitious 
people, its wise rulers have instigated the legislators 
of the United States to provide means for the educa- 
tion and development of these lower classes of 
society. 

It is only by assimilating with those of a higher 
intellectual development that the ignorant become 
enlightened, and America, in throwing down all bar- 
riers to political and social advancement, has been the 
chief instrument of lifting the great mass of human- 
ity to a position of power in the spirit world ; still 
there are crowds of beings, ignorant and superstitious, 
who enter the spirit world, and their intellects can only 
be unfolded by the labor and guidance bf some mas- 
ter mind. 

I was surprised to find that physical labor here, as 
on earth, was one of the chief means employed to 
assist in mental growth; and I found swarms of 
English, Irish, and German people happily at work, 
cultivating the land and erecting houses for them- 
selves and others, and assisting in the great machinery 
of life, which here, as in the other world, revolves 
its constant round. 

I had nearly forgotten to mention that since leav- 
ing your world I returned on one. occasion to attend 
a seance, as it is termed, for physical manifestations, 
and had the pleasure of seeing how our chemists 



20 HENRY J. RAYMOND. 

combine from the elements the semblance of the hu- 
man form. I had been interested when on earth in 
an experiment recently made by scientific men, 
whereby, through a peculiar combination of metals, a 
flame is caused to assume the shapes of flowers, leaves, 
fishes, and reptiles, apparently developed from the 
air, and I discovered an intelligent solution of the 
remarkable experiment in the manifestations I wit- 
nessed at this seance. 

It appears that every particle in nature throws off 
a gaseous emanation, partaking of its particular 
shape. These gaseous particles are not discernible 
with the material eye, excepting when by chance they 
coalesce, and then a phosphorescent light ensues, 
which renders them apparent. 

A similar effect to this is seen in electricity, which 
lies latent and viewless till by a sudden coalescing 
of its parts it manifests itself in zigzag lines and 
flashes of light which illuminate the heavens. 

Now certain material bodies have the power of 
drawing those atoms in close affinity, and when they 
are thus drawn, the shapes alluded to are clearly dis- 
cernible by the human eye. 

I discovered another fact, and that is that every 
human being emits a light, and in the case of those 
called " mediums," it is intense like the Drummond 
light, and a spirit standing in its rays will become 
visible to mortal sight. 

These experiments interested me highly, as they 
had been heretofore inexplicable to my mind. 

Apropos of the topics of to-day, I must here relate 
what I have heard of the " Lord Byron scandal," 



TO THE NEW YORK PUBLIC. 21 

which is creating so marked a sensation at present. 
I am told by Byron and others that Lady Byron, 
recently arriving in the spirit world and finding mat- 
ters very different from what she had expected, and 
that she was received nowhere as the wife of Lord 
Byron (who having resided there some thirty years 
had formed a new and happy alliance), was stung 
with jealousy and vexation and hastened to inspire 
Mrs. Stowe to repeat the story which had become a 
matter of faith with her, hoping thereby to inflict a 
punishment on Byron, who ignored his relation to 
her. 

If she had waited until she had resided a little 
longer in spirit life she would not have pursued so 
foolish a course. But I must bring this long letter 
to a close, assuring my friends that I have the pros- 
pect of as active a life before me as the one I have 
just closed on earth. 




MARGARET FULLER 



LITERATURE IN SPIRIT LIFE. 

To a mind familiar with the literature of the 
ancient Greeks and Romans, which has studied the 
Scandinavian Edda, and is intimate with the more 
modern German, French, and English authors, the 
literature of the spirit world opens up a mine of in- 
terminable wealth. 

The libraries in this world are vast catacombs or 
repositories of buried knowledge. Here are found 
histories of decayed races, dynasties, and nations 
which have vanished from earth, leaving scarce a 
monument of their progress in art, science, and men- 
tal culture. In these libraries the student of history 
will find the exploits of ancient peoples recorded, 
and a description of their cities, with the temples and 
towers which they built and the colossal images 
which they created. 

I own to the surprise which I experienced when I 
discovered that printed books were a part of the 
treasures of the spirit world. But the scholar will 
rejoice as I did to find the literary productions of re- 
motest ages garnered in the spacious halls of science 
that adorn our cities. 

(22) 



LITER A 1 URE IN SPIRIT LIFE. 23 

It is a principle of being — a condition of immor- 
tality — as inseparable from spirit existence as from 
earth life, that thought should express itself in 
external forms. Even the Great Spirit, the Creator 
of all, gives shape to his thoughts in the formation 
of trees, flowers, men, beasts, and myriad worlds 
with their constant motion, their sound and song. 

It has been aptly said that the " stars are the 
poetry of God." He, the Great Spirit of all, writes 
his thoughts legibly ; and so man, like his originator, 
whether living in the natural body or existing as a 
spirit, gives outward shape to his ideas ; hence books 
become a necessity of spirit existence, and the writers 
from earth have still a desire to perpetuate their 
thoughts. 

Oral communication is too evanescent, and there- 
fore the dear old books still find a place in the 
spheres. 

There are various modes of making these volumes, 
and the writer may become his own printer. 

Some authors prefer to dictate, and a little instru- 
ment marks off the variations of sound which make 
the word, and thus, as he speaks, the word is im- 
pressed on the sheet. 

Others, if the thought be clear and distinct enough, 
and the will sufficiently under abeyance, act through 
the mind upon a conductor, which dots down the 
thought in a manner somewhat similar to telegraphic 
printing. 

The material used to receive the impression is of a 
soft, vellum-like nature, which can be folded up in 
any manner without destroying its form ; it is very 



24 MARGARET FULLER. 

light and thin, but opaque, like the creamy petals of 
a lily. 

The phonetic alphabet is used extensively, though 
we have many books printed in the mode usually 
adopted on earth. 

All nature is constantly changing and progressing. 
The bards who sang upon the earth centuries ago — 
Homer, Yirgil, the Greek and Roman, the Celtic and 
Saxon writers of old — have passed beyond the spirit 
sphere which I inhabit to a spirit planet still more 
refined, and have left behind only the records of 
their strange experience. 

The eighteenth century cannot walk side by side 
with the third or fourth century more readily in the 
spirit world than on earth. 

The character of the spirit literature of the present 
day is essentially scientific and explorative. We 
have in our world, as you have in yours, intrepid 
travellers — learned men, who make voyages to almost 
inaccessible planets — and they return even as those 
of earth, with sketches and graphic outlines of the 
strange sights they have witnessed; and those less 
venturesome who remain at home are as anxious as 
your citizens might be to hear accounts of wonderful 
regions that have been visited. And such books of 
travel are sought eagerly. 

We have but few works on theology ; the nature 
and essence of God is discussed with us, but not so 
elaborately as with you. 

Spirits who have passed into a second life have so 
nearly approached the mystery of a Divine Being 
that they do not desire to debate the subject. 



LITERATURE HT SPIRIT LIFE. 25 

A large proportion of our writers are devoted to 
what you would here term transcendental thought, a 
kind of literature which lies between poetry and 
music, which awakens a feeling of ecstacy, and gives, 
as it were, wings to the soul. 

The poets who sang upon earth during the last 
century, of whom Shelly, Keats, and Byron are an 
English type, and Halleck, Pierrepont, Dana, and 
Willis the American representatives, are among the 
most inspired and far-reaching of our present writers 
of poetry and song. 

Our literature has one great advantage over that 
of earth, in that our separate nationalities become 
merged in one grand unit. "We do not need trans- 
lators, as we have adopted a universal written lan- 
guage. There are some writers who still retain, as I 
have said, the modes adopted on earthy but those who 
have been resident any length of time in the spirit 
sphere employ the plan of writing by signs, which 
are understood and acknowledged by every nation- 
ality. 

I should like, in closing, to introduce an extract 
from an old volume which I found in a library in 
the city of Spring Garden. 

It was written by Addison during his sojourn in 
that city, in the year 1720, and is in the form of a 
letter, supposed to be written to a friend on earth. 
In it he essays to portray the expansion of mind he 
has experienced in his new home through the mag- 
netic influence of thought-language : 

" Behold the far-off luminary suspended millions 
and billions and trillions of miles in" space ; then 
3 



W MARGARET FULLER. 

turn the eye yonder and see that infinitesimal point 
of vegetation, earth — a speck, countless multitudes 
of which heaped and piled together would form but 
a point compared with that majestic sun ! 

" Yet behold it move and expand beneath the long 
fibrous rays which that effulgent orb sends down 
through so many billions of miles to the place of its 
minute existence. Even as that poor little existence 
shoots out its fibres to meet those rays which have 
travelled such great lengths, so a spirit in the spheres 
feels the quickening, effulgent rays thrown out by 
the brain of some prophet or poet existing millions 
and billions and trillions of miles away on some 
distant spirit planet, and his thought expands and 
enlarges beneath the warming action of that far-off 
brain, until it assumes a shape and form which its 
own emulation never prophesied." 




BYRON, 



TO HIS ACCUSERS. 



My soul is sick of calumny and lies : 
Men gloat on evil — even woman's hand 
Will dabble in the mire, nor heed the cries 
Of the poor victim whom she seeks to brand 
In thy sweet name, Religion, through the land! 
Like the keen tempest she doth strip her prey, 
Tossing him bare and wrecked upon the strand, 
While vaunting her misdeeds before the day, 
Rearing a monument which crumbles like the clay. 



My sister, have I lived to see thy name 
Dishonored? Thou, who wast my pride, my stay; 
Shall Jealousy and Fraud thy love defame 
And I be dumb ? Just Heaven, let a ray 
From thy majestic light illume earth's clay,* 
That through her I may scorch the slander vile, 
And light throughout the land a torch to-day, 
Which shall reveal how false and full of guile 
Are they who seek thy name, Augusta, to defile. 



She who has borne my title and my name, 
In deeds fraternal saw some monster crime ; 
To her base level sought my heart to tame, 
Made mock of each aspiring thought sublime, 
And sought to bury me beneath the slime 



* The Clairvoyant. 

(27) 



28 LORD BYMOF. 

Of her imaginings. All — all are gone 
Who could defend me. From the grave of time 
I am unearth' d — by sland'rous miscreants torn, 
And rise to feel again the ills I once have borne. 



Is this a Christian deed, to flaunt a vice, 
And with another's failings gild your own ? 
To hearken to the whisperings and device 
Of old age, selfish, to suspicion grown ? 
To misconstrue each friendly look — each tone — 
And out of natural love create vile lust ? 
Must brother's heart his very kin disown, 
While rudest hand disturbs her mouldering dust ? 
Is this a Christian deed ? Shall mankind call it just ? 

v. 

But let that pass. I hear a nation T s voice 
Eaised to defend the absent, wronged child ; 
My hopes and aims were high, albeit my choice 
Was fixed on one who felt not for my wild 
And wayward nature ; one who never smiled 
On imperfection. From my home of light 
Unscathed, I see life's black'ning billows piled, 
Ready to sweep the daring soul from sight, 

Sinking his name and memory in darkest night. 

- 

I rise again above the woes of earth, 
Like unchained bird, seeking my native air. 
Men seldom see their fellow-creatures' worth, 
But blot sweet nature's page, however fair. 
Away, my soul, and seek thy nobler state, 
Where loving angels breathe their softest prayer, 
Where sweetest seraphs for thy coming wait, 
And ne'er suspicion's breath can pass the Golden Gate. 



NATHANIEL HAWTHORNE. 



APPARITIONS. 



Returning one evening from a visit to a friend on 
earth, I was impelled to take a route with which I 
was unfamiliar. It led me far beyond the habitations 
'of the city, into an open country whose surface was 
diversified by sloping hills and broad valleys. 

The sun was quite low in the horizon, and dark 
purple clouds, gathering in the west, indicated an ap- 
proaching storm. Anxious to reach my spirit-home 
before such an event, I was nevertheless compelled to 
keep within the earth's atmosphere. 

The aspect of the country became more uneven as 
I advanced, and the disappearing sun threw out the 
hills in cold blue relief against the evening sky. One 
peak to the northward stood high and isolated from 
the surrounding hills, and was crowned by a spacious 
dwelling house; the high peaked roof and dark 
gloomy color of its exterior comported strangely with 
the landscape. 

To this building an unseen influence drew me. 
As I approached nearer I discovered the figure of a 
man walking with restless step upon the piazza which 
surrounded the dwelling. At times he would sus- 
pend his walk, and crouch, shuddering as with fear, 
against the shadowed balustrade. His face was of 
3* (29) 



30 NATHANIEL HAWTHORNE. 

ashy paleness, and his hair, black as night, fell in neg- 
lected masses around his head. His eyes were bright 
and glassy, and their expression frightful to look upon. 

Unconscious of my proximity, he arose from his 
crouching position, stood for a moment irresolute, 
and then walked up to the heavy oaken door and 
knocked. 

Presently the door was opened by a lady ; she looked 
out, but could see no one. "It must have been the 
wind," said she, shuddering slightly, and drawing her 
shawl closely around her, was about to close the door. 
But before she could accomplish her purpose the 
unseen guest had entered, with myself following closely 
behind, hoping to give comfort where it appeared 
most sorely needed. 

Up a broad staircase he ascended and at a cham- 
ber door he paused — then entered. I followed. His 
presence seemed to cause the very furniture to shake 
and rattle. 

" Here," thought I, " I will solve the enigma. Here, 
without doubt, has occurred some grand disturbance 
of nature. The walls of this apartment, its casements, 
its decorations, have been witness to some fell crime. 
The spectre of evil impresses itself upon matter." 

"While reflecting upon this wonderful law, which 
all my life T had perceived dimly, I observed with 
care the evidently unhappy man. A bedstead of 
rich workmanship occupied one side of the apartment. 
Rushing toward it he burst forth in a cry of frenzy, 
swaying his hands fearfully and ejaculating and 
groaning in most piteous accents. 

At this juncture steps were heard outside ascending 



APPARITIONS. 31 

the stairs, and several members of the household en- 
tered, bearing lights. They looked about the room, 
at first timidly ; then, gathering courage, peered under 
the bed, opened closets, and scrutinized every nook 
and corner of the apartment. Foiled in their efforts 
to discover the inmate they turned to each other with 
amazement. 

"I am positive the sounds came from this room," 
said one. " There is no one to be seen here," replied 
another; "what can it mean?" 

The culprit stood in the corner, gesticulating vio- 
lently, but they with their mortal eyes could not see 
him. They passed close to him, but their lighted 
candles could not reveal the shadowless ! 

Having satisfied themselves that the room was 
tenantless, they departed. Then I approached the 
unhappy wretch : 

"Friend," said I, "let me aid you." Unburden 
your woe to me; I too have suffered and am not 
without sin." 

Casting his eyes upon me now for the first time, 
the man scowled with dogged sullenness, and said : 

" I want no help." 

" Nay," said I, " your looks belie your words ; come, 
go with me to my quiet cottage ; there you shall re- 
fresh yourself ; you shall sleep to-night in peace." 

" Peace ! " he repeated scornfully. " I know no 
peace ; nor can I leave this spot till every eye beholds 
the horrid deed that I committed here." 

" Friend," said I, " tell me the nature of your crime ; 
reveal to me your secret and your heart will be 
lighter for it." 



32 NATHANIEL HAWTHORNE. 

" Ha ! ha ! " he answered, his voice dy ing away in a 
low wail. " Look upon that wall opposite the bed ; it 
will speak better than I can." I looked, and beheld 
a faint photograph or impression of the conch, with 
its handsome drapery. Upon it reclined the figure 
of a female, and bending over her appeared the form 
of a man, whose livid face and black, disordered hair 
I recognized as an unmistakable reflection of the un- 
fortunate man before me. 

"You see that 'the very stones cry out against 
me,' " said he. " Every night for two years have I 
enacted that same scene, and I am held by some un- 
seen influence to this baneful spot." 

"Tell me your story," said I; "hide nothing — I 
am your friend." 

He ran his thin fingers through his tangled hair, 
and with a voice husky with emotion answered : 

" I will tell you. Some years ago, when a young 
man, haughty and passionate, I had the misfortune to 
love a girl whose youth and beauty proved my bane, 
and in a moment of recklessness I married her. In her 
nature were mingled the qualities of the serpent and 
the dove. She was my inferior, and I could not own 
her outwardly nor inwardly as my wife ; but, unhap- 
pily for the peace of both, I could not rid myself of 
her. I gave her money, but it availed not ; she was 
ignorant, and persisted in following me." Here the 
man looked around with a nervous air, as if he ex- 
pected to see the unwelcome face peering at him 
through the shadows. 

"To avoid her," he continued, "I secretly pur- 
chased this dwelling, remote from the place of her 



APPARITIONS. 33 

abode. There I lived for a brief time, happy ; a new 
life with loftier purposes dawned upon me ; I formed 
another attachment — a higher and more noble one. 

" One evening as I was walking upon the balcony 
thinking of my new-found joys, a figure came creep- 
ing up through the shrubbery towards me. To my 
amazement it proved to be the girl who claimed me. 

"When I saw her, rage entered my heart, and I 
felt as if I could annihilate her. But, suppressing all 
show of feeling, I went with her into the house, and 
appointed her this room for the night. A demoniac 
idea had presented itself to my mind; it came un- 
sought, but under the excitement of the moment it 
seemed like a good angel of deliverance. 

."To further this idea, I lay down beside her. 
Presently she fell into a light slumber. At first a 
slight expression of pleasure played upon her lips, 
but ere long the fatigue of her journey overcame her, 
and she slept heavily. 

" Then," said he, his countenance assuming a con- 
vulsive and ghastly aspect, "I arose on tiptoe, and 
collecting the heavy comforters and large downy pil- 
lows of the bed, I deliberately piled them on her one 
upon the other, and pressing them down with all my 
gathered force, I stifled her in her sleep ! 

"No cry, no groan from my victim betrayed the un- 
hallowed deed, and before the first dawn of day I 
was driving furiously over the road to the river's 
bank, from which into the watery depth below I 
threw this millstone of my life. 

"When I drove back the morning had dawned. 
The daylight seemed to pry into the secrets of the 



34 NATHANIEL HAWTHORNE. 

past night. I would fain shun it — the garish light 
disturbed rne. The morning sun, which had ever been 
my delight, seemed now a mocking imp of curiosity ; 
the house and grounds looked bare and desolate; a 
blight had fallen upon their former comeliness. 

"A strange fascination again drew me into the 
chamber which had been the scene of my crime. 
When there I re-enacted the last night's work. The 
bed and furniture seemed to come toward me and 
taunt me with the fell crime I had committed. ' I 
was justified in the act,' said I to these dumb accusers, 
as though they had been living witnesses. i She was 
the bane of my existence.' And with cunning preci- 
sion I arranged the disordered room, smoothed the 
pillows, and levelled the coverlet. ' The dead cannot 
speak, ' said I. ' This thing is hidden.' 

" After this performance I went forth, hoping by a 
sharp walk to drown the memory of the momentary 
deed. I passed through the garden and reached the 
sloping hill. There, where the low fence joined the 
open road, I was met by the lady whom I loved. 
She was taking the morning air, and with her smiling 
face seemed drinking in its balmy freshness. 

" ' You look ill/ said she, with a pitying glance. 
'See what I have brought for you,' and she held 
forth a newly-plucked bouquet of flowers. 

" I took the proffered blossoms hurriedly, dreading 
to meet her clear eye, which I felt must surely read 
my guilt. Burying the flowers in my breast, and with 
an effort to smile that sickened me, I bowed low to the 
ground and hurried on. 

" When beyond her sight I drew the nosegay from 



APPARITIONS. 35 

its hiding place — it was withered as if scorched by a 
burning heat ! Upon looking closer at this strange 
phenomena, I beheld, to my horror, in dim outline, the 
face of the murdered ! Whence came the impression \ 
Had my riotous heart burnt the secret upon those 
blushing petals? 

" Frantically I tore open my shirt, when lo ! upon 
my breast I beheld imprinted a picture of the direful 
deed — seared in by rays more potent than the sun's 
— photographed there, as if by the lightning's fierce 
stroke ! 

"Presently a band of children on their way to 
school overtook me, and began to Avhisper to each 
other as they passed. I saw that they looked at 
me with suspicion in their eyes. 'They too can 
see the brand,' thought 1 ; ' they are mouthing about 
it now.' 

" Urged to desperation, I plunged into a thicket 
near by. Amid a group of trees in its centre, one 
lifted itself higher and straighter than its companions. 
Upon its topmost branch, as I chanced to lift my eyes, 
I beheld to my terror the woman whom I had sent 
into eternity, looking down upon me with scoffs and 
grimaces ! 

" The ghostly apparition wrought me to frenzy. In 
hot haste I climbed the tree. Its straight, smooth sides, 
under ordinary circumstances would have proved 
a barrier to my efforts, but in my excitement they 
formed no obstacle. Beaching the top, I endeavored 
to grasp her. Stretching out my arms and clasping 
frantically the air, I fell dead to the ground. 

" Thus was I born into the spirit world. The idea 



36 NATHANIEL HA WTHORNE. 

that last possessed me on earth, first possessed me in 
the spirit life. 

" No mortal man can describe the horror I experi- 
enced on finding myself in the midst of a boundless 
space, face to face with mine enemy. Her narrow 
intellect and strong animal nature seemed to have 
expanded, even as I have seen the face of a child 
expand from pleasing infancy into idiotic youth. 
This animal part of her immortality roused my ire — 
struck some savage chord in my nature — and I rose 
up like a wild beast to attack her; but the creature 
laughed and jeered at my vain efforts. She led me 
thus, in fruitless pursuit, further and further into 
space; inciting me on by her taunts and ringing 
laugh, until I found myself in a dark and noisome 
pit, when she suddenly vanished. 

" Ignorant of the peculiarities of spirit condition, I 
could not grope my way out of this place, which 
appeared to me a very hell. I wandered in this 
gloomy labyrinth, breathing the foul air, and utter- 
ing fearful cries which struck my ears with anguish. 
Black, threatening shapes appeared to stand in the 
intricate windings of that gloomy cavern, ready to 
seize me if I dared to essay my escape. When my 
agony had reached its utmost bounds of endurance, 
I felt myself growing strangely light, and like some 
thin vapor I ascended to the mouth of the pit and 
made my exit into the outer air. 

"The place I then discovered to be merely a 
cavern or deserted mine, but to my unhappy condi- 
tion of mind it had appeared as the home of the 
damned. 



APPARITIONS. 37 

" Out into space again, I saw afar off, as across 
the continent, the dwelling where I had passed the 
last days of my eventful life. A current of air like 
the shock from an electric wire carried me back to 
the spot. 

"Returned to the scene of my crime, I became 
possessed with the desire to expose to view the deed 
I had committed, and to reveal my villany to the 
community. For two weary years I have hovered 
around this place for that purpose ; but I have failed 
hitherto, as you have seen me fail to-night." 

As he finished his narrative I observed he seemed 
about to relax into a morbid condition again. To pre- 
vent this, I seized him kindly by the shoulder and ex- 
claimed, " Friend, you must come with me. Your 
life, your future welfare is imperiled. You are like 
one shut up in a vault, breathing his own exhala- 
tions. You do not understand the science of mind." 

"The science of mind?" said he. "What have I 
to do with that % 'Tis the curse of Cain resting upon 
me. I cannot undo the evil that I have done. I am 
an outcast!" 

"The wrong you have done," said I, "becomes 
doubly, trebly magnified by thus living it over day 
by day. You have committed a crime. Do you wish 
to perpetuate that crime? You pursue the very 
course to make it permanent and enduring. Mind 
acts upon matter and matter reacts upon mind. You 
have made the house a partner to the deed you have 
committed by constantly associating it with the act. 
You have tainted its walls and poisoned it within 
and without. 
4 



38 NATHANIEL HAWTHORNE. 

" It becomes sentient and reacts upon yon. It be- 
comes a magnet, a loadstone to draw you. Your 
constant habit of associating it in your mind with the 
past, creates around it an atmosphere which is a part 
of your being and welds you to it, so that you, the 
house, and the deed, become one mighty monster, 
inseparable. The idea that you can expiate the 
deed by this self-torture is vain. You can neither 
confer good upon yourself nor your victim. Leave 
off and follow me." 

These last words seemed to have the desired effect, 
for he raised his eyes with a sad smile, placed his 
hand in mine, and said : 

" I will go with you." 

Happy that my efforts proved availing, I hurried 
on in a joyous mood, soon rising above the earth and 
bearing my companion to my spirit home. 

The pure air of the fragrant fields revived him, 
and by the time we arrived at my own garden-home 
he seemed born into a new life. 

I set him down under my arbor, now dripping 
with golden fruits, and having refreshed him with 
cordial (angels' food), I called his attention to the 
beauties around us ; the birds, the flowers, and the 
luxurious growth of nature, which shed such abun- 
dance around my home. 

" See," said I, " how nature works. If the roots of 
the tree meet with obstacles they start off in another 
direction. They do not wind and wind themselves 
around one spot. If they did death would ensue. 

" In every man's life there are deeds to be regretted 
— wrongs which he would gladly undo — but painful 



APPARITIONS. 39 

imaginings and fruitless remorse will not set them 
right. Only by being actively engaged in some 
nobler direction can atonement be made. 

" This woman, whom you have injured, is in mag- 
netic rapport with you; and while you are in this 
moody, self-denunciatory frame of mind, your rest- 
less, unhappy condition acts upon her, preventing her 
from becoming contented and happy ; then her state 
reacts back upon you, and thus an evil equilibrium is 
maintained." 

" I see my error, " he exclaimed. " Tell me what 
to do and I will do it." 

It was arranged that he should remain with me. 
We worked together ; he became happy and his mind 
no longer reverted to the past, but active and health- 
ful employment engaged his hours. 

When he had recovered sufficiently I took him to 
see his former companion. He found her in a plea- 
sant home, looking buoyant and happy. All that 
was demoniac had vanished from her face. Sur- 
prised, he burst into tears as he beheld her. " Weep 
not," said she, " for I am happy now. The past is 
forgotten." 

They compared notes, and found that peace had 
entered into her soul when he had obliterated the 
past from his memory and commenced his labors in 
a new life. 

Thus we see that the evil passions and attributes of 
one nature may awaken and kindle like passions in 
another, which can only be subdued by letting them 
pass unnoticed, and also by arousing the higher fac- 
ulties into activity. 



WASHINGTON IRVING. 



VISIT TO HENRY CLAY. 



Having recovered my health after a sojourn of two 
weeks amid the charming scenery of Mount Rosalia, 
or the " Rose-colored Mount," I set forth one morn- 
ing, accompanied by a competent guide, to visit the 
home of my friend, Henry Clay. The morniug was un- 
commonly fine, even for the sweet Land of the Blest, 
and the f ragance from the roses blooming upon the 
hill-side was fairly intoxicating. 

Our phaeton was a small, white, swan-shaped car- 
riage, ornamented with golden designs, and propelled 
by a galvanic battery in the graceful swan-head, which 
at my request took the place of the ordinary steed. 

This was, to me, an exceedingly novel mode of 
travel, which my short sojourn in the spirit world had 
prevented me from before enjoying. 

We glided over the electric ground with the speed 

of lightning and smooth harmony of music. The 

road over which we rolled was white and lustrous as 

parian marble, and adorned on either side with most 

rare and beautiful forms of foliage ; ever and anon 

we passed gay cavalcades and bands of spirits, who 

were evidently, from their festal garments, and the 

bright emanations which they diffused through the air, 

(40) 



VISIT TO HENRY CLAY. 41 

bound for some harcnonial gathering on one of the 
numerous islands which dot the sparkling river 
"YVashingtonia, so named after George Washington. 

The distance from the point whence I started, 
according to earth's computation, was over one 
hundred miles; but though I desired my guide to 
move onward as slowly as possible, that I might enjoy 
the prospect before me, we reached our destination 
in less than a quarter of an hour ! 

I had received a special invitation from Henry 
Clay to visit him on this occasion, as he had called 
together some choice friends to give me welcome ; 
yet, although I knew I was expected, my surprise 
cannot be described upon beholding the air filled with 
bevies of beautiful ladies, like radiant birds, approach- 
ing, with the sound of music and flutter of flowers, to 
receive me. Thus surrounded and escorted, I was 
borne to the noble palace (for such it may be justly 
termed) of Henry Clay. 

The structure is of white alabaster, fac!:d with a 
pale yellow semi-transparent stone, which glistened 
most gorgeously. The form of the building is 
unlike any order of architecture with which I had 
been acquainted. The avenue by which it was ap- 
proached was decorated alternately with statues of 
representative Americans, and a peculiar flowering 
tree, whose green leaves and yellow blossoms, of 
gossamer texture, resembled the fine, mist of a sum- 
mer morning. Terminating, this avenue was the 
main entrance, surmounted by the grand dome of the 
edifice. In the rear of this rotunda, extending on 
either side, appeared the main building, rising, turret 



42 WASHINGTON IRVING. 

on turret, like a stupendous mountain of alabaster 
beaming as with soft moonlight in the clear summer 
air. 

We entered by ascending a staircase composed of 
twelve broad steps. And here let me pause, before 
recounting my interview with the celebrated states- 
man, to describe the main hall, whose magnificence 
I, upon entering, hastily surveyed, but which I 
afterward studied more completely. The floor of 
this hall was formed of delicate cerulean blue 
gems. From its centre sprang, like a fountain, a 
most wonderful representation of a flowering plant 
resembling the lotus, composed of precious and 
brilliant stones. The green leaves forming the base 
were of transparent emerald, and the white lily 
which surmounted the stem blossomed out clearer 
than any crystal. The yellow centre, corresponding 
to the pistils, formed a divan. This beautiful orna- 
ment was intended for the desk of the orator. The 
dome, which was several hundred feet high, was open 
to the summer sky, and arranged in tiers graduated 
one above the other. The lower tier was filled with 
paintings indicating the progress of the United States 
of America. Surmounting this was a gallery of small 
compartments, each hung with silver and gold gauze 
drapery, and similar in construction to the boxes of a 
theatre ; these opened into halls or alleys leading to 
private apartments connecting with the main building. 
Above these boxes were placed artistically-carved 
animals, representing the native beasts of America. 
Above these again, appeared groups in marble of 
the fruits of the country. 



VISIT TO HENRY CLAY. 43 

~Eo sooner had I entered the building which I have 
been describing, than a peculiar rushing sound like 
distant music reached my ear; on lifting my eyes 
in the direction of the sound, I beheld descending 
through the air the majestic form of Henry Clay. 
He approached with extended hand and fascinating 
smile to receive me. How like and yet how unlike 
the famous man I had known on earth ! The gray 
hair of age had given place to the abundant glossy 
locks of youth. The intellectual eye beamed with a 
new life and his whole person' sent forth an efful- 
gence most attractive. Those of my readers who 
knew him on earth will well remember the peculiar 
fascination of his sphere, but they can form from the 
remembrance but a slight idea of the attractive aura 
he sheds forth in this existence. I immediately felt 
myself drawn by an invisible power toward him. 
He grasped my hand with the frank cordiality and 
grace of former days, and leading me thus, we arose 
together and, passing through one of the arched com- 
partments of the upper tier, entered another portion of 
the building. As we moved on I seemed to live 
portions of my earthly life, long past. The gorgeous 
and fantastic architecture which everywhere met my 
eye reminded me of the halls of the Alhambra. 
Swiftly passing, we emerged through a spacious arch 
upon an open arbor, where were congregated the 
guests whom I had been invited to meet. I started 
back with a shock of delight when I beheld, in the 
centre of the group, the immortal figure of George 
Washington. I knew him instantly, partly from the 
likenesses which had been extant on earth, and partly 
from the noble spirit which emanated like a sun 



44 WASHINGTON IRVING. 

from his person. The group parted as we entered 
and I immediately felt, resting upon my shoulder 
like a benediction, the soft, firm hand of the Father 
of his Country. " Washington ! " I exclaimed, fer- 
vidly grasping his hand. " At length we have met ! " 
he responded, and a smile of ineffable joy lighted his 
countenance. He then spoke of the many changes 
through which the United States had passed since 
his removal to the spirit land. I was surprised at 
the extent of knowledge he displayed. Not the 
slightest variation in the scale of political economy 
had escaped his notice. He expressed himself 
pleased especially at the great progress and develop- 
ment of the people within the last twenty years. 
He alluded to their rapid march through the western 
territories ; the founding of new and important States ; 
the development of the agricultural and mineral 
resources of countries supposed to be almost value- 
less ; of the invention and construction of machinery 
adapted to the wants and necessities of those new 
and rapidly-increasing States. " This marvellous 
growth is owing to their being essentially a medium- 
istic people — is it not so?" said he, smiling and 
turning to the assembled guests. " Yes, yes ! " I 
heard repeated on all sides. On this commenced a 
general conversation. I listened as one in a dream. 
Around me I beheld the faces and forms of the 
heroes of past history, each bearing the shape and 
semblance of humanity, though removed from earth 
millions of miles into space. One and all emitted, 
like stars, their own peculiar luminous aura. Col- 
lected in motley groups were Benjamin Franklin, 
John Hancock, William Penn, Old General Jackson, 



VISIT TO HENRY CLAY. 45 

Jolm Jacob Astor, De "Witt Clinton, and many of the 
old Knickerbocker residents of New York ; with Sir 
Robert Peel, Lord Brougham, the Duke of Welling- 
ton, Hunt, Keats, Byron, Scott, Cowper, Hume, 
Goethe, De Stael, Mrs. Hemans, and many others. 

" The people of America have progressed to an 
astonishing degree," said a musical voice at my left. 
" We must initiate Irving into the means by which 
we impart knowledge to the mediumistic nation 
through the Cabinet at Washington." 

"Certainly," responded Henry Clay. "Let all 
formalities cease. We will partake of refreshments, 
and then Franklin will make him acquainted with 
the wonderful aids to science and humanity with 
which he has supplied my residence." 

As he ceased speaking, a shower of sound, like the 
music from the ringing of innumerable crystal bells, 
filled the air. Accompanying this, and apparently 
descending from the ceiling, a soft light of aromatic 
odor diffused itself through the apartment. This was 
followed by the appearance of a shining disk of am- 
ber and pearl, revolving rapidly in its descent till it 
reached the congregated party. This magic circle 
(which Thomas Hood, who was present, facetiously 
termed the "wheel of fortune") was supplied with re- 
freshments truly supernal. Here were fruits of most 
brilliant dyes ; some of soft, pulpy flesh, and others 
of the consistency of honey; some more transparent 
than the diamonds of earth ; others substantial, seem- 
ingly intended to supply the demands of hunger. Here 
were confections resembling foam and cloud, whose 
very taste was elysium. The guests ate and chatted 
vivaciously. I received much information concerning 



4G WASHINGTON IRVING. 

the various products of this great laud which were 
displayed upou the table. The most luscious fruits, 
I considered, both in flavor and quality, were those 
produced on an island in the spirit land correspond- 
ing to your island of Cuba, which was under the 
protection of a band of spirits called the "Good 
Sisters." 

The company having regaled themselves at the 
table, arose and divided into groups, laughing and 
chatting like ordinary mortals. I felt immediately 
attracted to a cluster of which Benjamin Franklin 
was the magnetic centre. I reminded him of the 
duties imposed on him by our host, and told him 
playfully that I desired to investigate the mysteries 
of this wonderful palace. He cordially acquiesced,, 
and, in company with a few friends, we commenced 
our explorations. I inquired as to the construction 
of the table from which we had just arisen, so supe- 
rior to the cumbersome ones of earth. " It is a very 
simple contrivance," he smilingly remarked. "You 
observe inserted in these twisted columns, ornamented 
with leaves, which support the ceiling, an electric 
wire, similar to that of a telegraph. From each of 
these central columns, this wire connects with the 
upper gallery. Here," said he, pointing to one of 
the leafy ornamemts, "'you perceive the means of 
communicating. Unobserved by you, our gracious 
host touched one of these springs which are connect- 
ed with the crystal bells, and announced to his ser- 
vants his desire for refreshments." "Servants?' 5 
exclaimed I. " How singular ! I little supposed, from 
the religious teachings I had received, that there 
would be menials in heaven ! " 



VISIT TO HENRY CLAY. 47 

"Thee has a poor memory," remarked William 
Perm, with a bright smile, "Did not the Bible teach 
thee that there was an npper and a lower seat ? These 
servants are composed mostly of those who were held 
in slavery on earth and who desire to receive instruc- 
tion that they may progress in the spheres. They 
are willing assistants ; giving, that they may receive 
in return. If thee dislike the term 'servant,' thee 
may use the term ' friend,' for they are friends and 
co-workers. Through those doors in the gallery 
they bring the refreshments which they gather from 
the hanging gardens without, where they live like 
the Peries of the East. The luxury of the princes 
of earth cannot compare with the life of enjoyment 
and freedom led by those whom I have termed 
' servants.' " 

I here took the opportunity to ask Franklin if it 
was necessary, in communicating with absent individ- 
uals, to use those external appliances? "Not always; 
thought can commune with thought if upon the same 
plane ; but a mind like that of our great statesman 
cannot readily communicate with one whose mind 
on earth never rose above the domestic affairs of life. 
In such cases, external means are necessary." 

" Come," said he, turning; "I will show you some- 
thing more remarkable than this." So saying, he led 
me through an open door into one of the spacious 
gardens which grace the palace on either side. We 
walked but a few moments, arm in arm, over a soft 
velvet like lawn, of the color of a delicate violet. 
Exquisite tints everywhere met my eye. The air 
was like wine, and so luscious and entrancing were 
the surroundings that I felt inclined to tarrv. but mv 



48 WASHINGTON IRVING. 

sage guide, calling my attention to the majestic dome 
towering in the air, desired me to exert my will to 
ascend. 1 did so, and immediately felt myself rising 
as if pressed up by some elastic substance, until 1 
reached the top. The dome, which appeared to be 
composed of glass, I perceived, as I approached, 
was covered with a thin web resembling that of a 
spider. The apex of this dome was surmounted by 
a globe representing the planet earth, with its conti- 
nents and seas. Openings corresponding to the dif- 
ferent continents admitted persons into the globe. 
We entered that corresponding to the continent of 
North America. Each of these entrances, I was told, 
was particularly adapted to the admission of the in- 
habitants of the different localities they represented. 
On looking down I beheld the apartment I had first 
entered. It was no longer vacant — each gallery was 
filled with spectators. On the lily-shaped rostrum 
stood Henry Clay and George Washington— Wash- 
ington speaking to the people. "You observe," said 
my guide, " a secondary stem from that lily branches 
off and extends to this point. It appears to you a mere 
ornament, but it transmits the thoughts and words of 
the speaker to the city of Washington. "Other 
branches, as you notice, lead in other directions. If 
the speaker desires his thoughts to be transmitted to 
any given point, he leans toward the stem leading to 
that point. This silken web which you have admired, 
is a sensitive electric telegraph. It is composed of the 
elements of mind ; in the world you have lately in- 
habited it would be intangible, but it has a subtle 
connection with the human brain, and spirit thoughts 
directed through it go with the promptness of elec- 



VISIT TO HENRY CLAY. 49 

tricity to their destination. Thought is electric, but 
its power of transmitting itself is, like that of the 
human voice, limited ; the voice requires the artificial 
assistance of a speaking-trumpet to throw its sound 
beyond the ordinary distance ; thought requires a sim- 
ilar artificial conductor. "You remember," said 
Franklin, "in my early experiments with the kite and 
key, I could not obtain the spark until I had estab- 
lished the necessary attraction, although the air was 
filled with the electric current. So of the thought - 
electricty, which is constantly flowing; we have to 
apply means to concentrate it and give it form and 
expression. On earth, word and gesture are media 
for thought, but the savans have not yet discovered 
the means by which unspoken thought can take form 
and expression. No galvanic wire nor chemical bat- 
tery has yet been invented by them, through which 
these electric sparks may be drawn down from their 
unseen habitations among the clouds; but in the 
world of spirits this great discovery, as I have shown 
you, has been made. In this appliance you find the 
thoughts of the speaker running through these sen- 
sitive wires until, like telegraphic messages, they reach 
their destination on earth." 

I listened to Franklin's explanation of this gigantic 
sensorium with my soul filled with love and admira- 
tion for the great Creator who had formed the human 
mind with its vast capacity for penetrating the sub- 
lime mysteries of nature. 

After leaving the dome I continued my inspection 
of the edifice. But of its halls and galleries, its 
boudoirs, libraries, and peerless gardens, I will speak 
at some future time. 



NAPOLEON BONAPARTE. 



TO THE FRENCH NATION. 

Triumph sits regent upon the Napoleonic banner. 
Napoleon the First is dictator to Napoleon the Third. 
By rny side stands Josephine. We were not destined 
to part eternally. In Louis Napoleon Bonaparte her 
blood and mine commingle. Hestez-vous, monjpatrie; 
Napoleon shall decide aright. JVb, petit gargon, 
Napoleon le Grand will place you upon the highest 
pinnacle of peace. 

Fate is inexorable. The decrees of destiny are 
more potent than the wisdom of man. France and 
Napoleon are indissoluble. The star of Bonaparte 
is destined to shine yet for the next half-century. 
None but a patriot shall rule France. No proud 
Austrian, nor weak and haughty Bourbon shall flame 
their colors from the palaces of France. No, my 
countryman! he who serves you, who leads your 
armies to victory, who raises your citizens to distinc- 
tion, he whose courage is undaunted, he who has the 
power of prescience — is Napoleon. 

"When Louis shall join me his spirit and mine 
will still animate the Bonapartes who shall come 
after us. 

(50) 



NAPOLEON BONAPARTE. 51 

Repose entire confidence in his discretion. Napo- 
leon the Third lives only for France. 

You cry for liberty of speech and liberty of the 
press. But liberty is anarchy. Would you demand 
liberty for the army ? Without a head to guide and 
control it, the army of France would be a scourge. 

Through calamity the most depressing, the hand 
of destiny has led Louis Napoleon to the throne of 
France, and against sickness and disease, against the 
hand of the assassin, and against vilifications of his 
enemies, it will hold him there, firm. His time has 
not yet come. Before he bids adieu to life he will 
secure an able leader for France. 

I give him my hand. I embrace him in spirit. 
The shadow of Napoleon attends him by day and by 
night. 

Adieu, 

Napoleon. 




W. M. THACKERAY. 



HIS POST MORTEM EXPERIENCE. 

Poor "Will Thackeray, when a stripling, was fit to 
kneel in the street before his mistress, that bright 
luminary who shone to his boyish eyes like a star of 
the first magnitude ! Alas, he discovered her to be 
one of the sixteenth, and by the time he had ceased 
to care for polished boots and stiff, broad collars, 
she had dwindled down to an ordinary piece of 
humanity ! 

He found his boon companions, like himself, liable 
to mistake an ant for a whale and think the King of 
England next in royalty to a god ! 

What a fool he made of himself in the eyes of 
those who were wiser than he, when he swore the 
crown of England was made of unalloyed gold ! 
The water he drank was filled with animal culse, yet 
he swore it was pure as the gods' nectar. The best 
and freshest air he breathed contained poison, yet 
his boyish wisdom knew better than that. 

Poor Thackeray! wiser men than he knew that 
youthful imagination was a cheat ; that the mistress 
of his heart was not a goddess ; and wiser beings 
than they all knew — angelic beings, living in the 
golden streets of Paradise, knew — that the concep- 
tion of what the spirit after death would be able to do 

(52) 



HIS POST MORTEM EXPERIENCE. 53 

was as far from the truth as were his boyish dreams 
of the mistress of his heart ! 

Poor Thackeray ! he has attained that superior wis- 
dom now! He walks, himself a ghost, among the 
ghosts of the past ; and these " airy nothings " nod 
and smile, and shake hands, and say : 

" Yes, we are ourselves." 

He thrusts his hands into his trowsers pockets, 
and remembers the time when he thought it would 
be indecent to go naked in the New Jerusalem ! 
Trowsers, forsooth ! Yes, here they are, pockets and 
all; and he dives his hands in deeper, jingling 
something which strongly resembles cash ; and struts 
about and hobnobs with Addison, Spencer, Sterne, 
old Dean Swift, and he asks himself, " are these the 
great men of my fancy ? " On reflection he finds he 
had expected to meet these luminaries shining like 
actual stars in the firmament, attended by some un- 
defined splendor. 

Poor Will Thackeray ! he finds the same dross in 
the gold, the same animalculse in the water, the same 
poison in the air, the same fact that men are not gods 
in that much-vaunted place called heaven, as on the 
much-abused earth. But he wipes his spectacles, and 
clears away the mist of speculation and fancy, which 
has bedimmed his eyes, and looks about him more 
hopefully and trustfully than in the days when he 
walked through Yanity Fair and saw how Mr. 
Timms, with not a penny in the bank, pinched him- 
self to give a little dinner in imitation of a great 
lord who gave a great dinner, and had gold beyond 
his count ; snobs, who wore paste jewels and cotton- 



54 W. M. THACKERAY. 

backed velvet, who cursed a fellow and strutted about 
in imitation of noble lords, who wore real diamonds 
and silken velvets ! mimicking the follies of the great, 
but never their noble deeds and heroisms. 

He is beyond snobs now. He is in the land of 
heroisms and heroes. Yet he feels he has been 
cheated by the fat parson who stole sovereigns from 

his pocket to keep him out of h ! His spiritual 

bones fairly ache with the leagues he has travelled, 
hunting up the throne of God ! " Where the deuce," 
he mutters, " is the showman ? " He can't find the 
lake of fire and brimstone without a guide. 

Poor Thackeray ! he again wipes his spectacles and 
feels he has been sold ! This life on the other side 
of Jordan he finds to be what his American cousins 
would call a " humbug," a downright swindle upon 
the sympathies and good taste of those who wear long 
streamers of crape, and groan and sob over his fune- 
ral rites ! He feels in duty bound (out of considera- 
tion for those mourners who expect nothing else) to 
go scudding through the air in a loose white shroud, 
or to rest cosily housed away in the " bosom of his 
Maker," like a big, grown-up infant that he is, or else 
to be howling at the top of his lungs hallelujahs ! — 
he that could never raise a note. And, if not so, 
certainly, out of compliment to the judgment of his 
boon companions, he should be engaged in the dread 
alternative of sitting astride a pair of balances and 
being " weighed and found wanting ; " or having been 
sent by the relentless Judge into everlasting torment 
" where there is cursing and gnashing of teeth," he 
should be found there tormenting his fellow-imps ! 



HIS POST MORTEM EXPERIENCE. 55 

But alas ! to his mortification, nothing of the kind 
is occurring or seems likely to occur. 

He has been as active as the next man since his 
arrival in ghostdom. Pie has peeped under the clia- 
peaux of every solemn pilgrim whom he lias passed, 
but failed to find the four-and-twenty elders who 
have washed their robes in the blood of the Lamb. 
What has he found ? He really is ashamed to own 
up to the number of mountain sides and sloping hills 
he has inspected in the vain search for a place he 

used to call h (he thought it blasphemy to add 

the other three letters); but neither cloven foot, nor 
forked tail, nor horns, nor any kind of fearful person 
in black, has pounced upon him ; nor has he been 
seized by any claimant for leaving the world un- 
shriven, as he did. 

Poor Will Thackeray ! it has been a great disap- 
pointment to him ! He. expected some kind of sen- 
sational reception — thunder or lightning, or some 
big God whose towering front might vie with Chim- 
borazo — to awe him into the consideration that he 
had become a spirit and was launched into the awful 
precincts of eternity ! ISTo wonder he feels dogged 
and put upon to find himself thus bamboozled ! 
He undertook a long and venturesome journey to 
" see the elephaut," but it wasn't there ! 

He can't complain against the citizens of this fa- 
mous "undiscovered bourne"; they have done all 
that's fair and square by him ; they have shown all 
that they have got ; and he is too much of a gentle- 
man to taunt them. He knows they feel ashamed 
that they haven't those curiosities that their Vice- 



56 



W. M. T HACKEE AT. 



gerents on earth had vouched for their having; he 
can see it in their faces; but he considers himself 
in duty bound to prepare his fellow-citizens for what 
they are to expect. 




AECHBISHOP HUGHES. 



TWO NATURAL RELIGIONS. 



There are two great natural religions before the 
world, the Roman Catholic and the Spiritualistic ; 
and both are adapted to the wants of the race. 

Man naturally gives expression to his thoughts by 
external forms corresponding to his ideas. 

The Roman Catholic religion is accused of being a 
system of forms and ceremonies, but therein lies its 
wonderful adaptation to humanity. Thought ever 
seeks expression in form, even as a mother's love for 
her infant finds expression in her ardent embrace. 

Love is the prevailing element of the Catholic 
religion, as shown by the love of the Son of God for 
poor, ignorant, sinful creatures. 

"We do not present this to the mind ideally. "We 
call in the outcast and the beggar, and we expose to 
their view, in the great cathedrals, the Son of God, 
as he appeared in all his various experiences of 
human life. 

The parent who can earn but a scanty pittance 
for his offspring, sees before him Jesus lying in the 
manger, equal in squalid poverty with the lowest of 
mankind. 

The majesty and glory of the courts of Heaven 
are symbolized in the Roman Church. There is 

(57) 



58 ARCHBISHOP HUGHES. 

gathered the wealth of the world! All that is yet 
attained in the representation of the grand, the beau- 
tiful, the majestic, the sublime, and the devotional, is 
collected in the Mother of Churches. 

What earthly king, in his noble palace, with its 
costly architecture, its ornaments of silver and gold, 
its rare paintings and statuary, the wealth and accu- 
mulation of many sovereigns, would admit into its 
sacred precincts the poor and the lowly, the beggar 
and the thief, the Magdalen and the Lazarus to sully 
with their presence his royal abode ?_ 

But we erect palaces to the King of Heaven ! regal 
in architecture, and adorned with beauty surpassing 
in magnificence earthly royalty, in which the lowliest 
may enter on an equality with the prince ; his un- 
tutored mind, his uncultivated senses may listen to 
music of the highest order. The pealing tones of the 
organ resound under the touch of the highest masters 
of art for his simple ear. Listening to those strains, 
his mind forms a conception of the harmony and 
beatitude of Heaven ! 

Even death is not looked upon with horror by the 
Catholic. If he lose a friend in this life, unlike the 
Protestant, he does not abandon him in oblivion, but 
his sympathies still extend to him by offering masses 
for his soul. And it is because it is so adapted to 
man's spiritual nature that the Catholic religion has 
withstood the shock and surge of ages ! 

The restless, heaving billows of time have washed 
against the seven-hilled Church in vain. 

My soul rests in peace. It has taken its abode in 
Elysium. And in this world among the stars, seeing 



TWO NATURAL RELIGIONS. 59 

clearer and further than when I inhabited the lowly 
planet earth, I look down upon the struggling, dying 
race I have left behind, and feel still, that the Roman 
Catholic religion is the religion for the masses. 

A great majority of men are born into the world 
but little higher than the beasts that perish. Their 
spiritual natures, though feeble, need food that is 
adapted to their wants. That food we furnish. 

Our priests, our sisters of charity, our holy fathers, 
our Benedictine monks, our nuns, are to be found in 
every quarter of the globe. On the mountains of 
everlasting snow, among the icebergs of the Polar 
Sea, and in the sandy deserts;, on inhospitable 
shores, in the torrid zone, under the burning rays of 
the equatorial sun ; with the savage and with the 
sage they are found ever ready to stimulate the 
spiritual nature, to give earthly advice, and supply 
material wants. 

As a spirit I speak of what I think best adapted 
to the needs of man. I endeavor to throw aside the 
prejudices of education. I look upon the Protestant 
religion as unnatural ; a monstrous belief which de- 
forms man. So far as I can see, its influence has 
been blighting. It takes youth, joy, and animation 
from the world. It grants no indulgence for sin, nor 
for the mistakes of ignorance. It is cruel and harsh, 
and men become narrow and self-elated under its 
teachings. 

The Spiritualistic religion resembles the Catholic 
in its breadth and amplitude, and in its humanizing 
and equalizing influence. I expect the day will 



CO ARCHBISHOP HUGHES. 

come when all minor beliefs will be swallowed up in 
these two great religions. 

The Catholic Church in the spirit world is not so 
extensive as it is upon earth. Its usefulness is 
more especially adapted to earthly conditions. 

There are some noble cathedrals in the spirit 
world. Mass is offered up every morning at the ca- 
thedral of the Five Yirgins in my bishopric. 

The sisterhood of the Five Wise Yirgins, newly 
organized, inhabit beautiful and commodious edifices 
adjacent. 

It is their business to escort from earth youthful 
souls who have been baptized in the Church, and 
who are friendless and vagrant, having inhabited 
while on earth such parts of Kew York City as the 
Five Points and Water street, and having neither kin- 
dred nor connection to claim them. 

These are received into the beautiful home of the 
sisterhood. They bathe in the golden fountains of 
youth, and are instructed in various ways. They are 
taught the uses of magnetism, mesmerism, and psy- 
chology, and return to earth to rap, write, and speak, 
through media, and to bring back the stray lambs to 
the fold. 




EDGAR A. POE. 



THE LOST SOUL. 

Hark the bell ! the funeral bell, 

Calling the soul 

To its goal. 
Oh ! the haunted human heart, 
From its idol doomed to part ! 
Yet a twofold being bearing, 
She and I apart are tearing; 
She to heaven I to hell ! 
Going, going ! Hark the bell ! 

Far in hell, 

Tolling, tolling. 

Fiends are rolling, 
Whitened bones, and coffins reeking, 
Fearful darkness grimly creeping 

On my soul, 

My vision searing, 

She disappearing, 

Drawn from me 

By a soul I cannot see, 
Whom I know can never love her. 
Oh ! that soul could I discover, 

I would go, 

Steeped in woe, 
Down to darkness, down to hell ! 
Hark the bell ! Farewell ! farewell ! 



(61) 



JEAN PAUL BICHTER 



INVISIBLE INFLUENCES. 



A ship is on the ocean. The wind is fair. All 
hands are in motion. But a few hours since, it left 
port. Among its passengers is a gay traveller; he 
wears a silken cloak fringed with gold. The sailors 
admire his splendor; they gather around him as 
he walks the deck with his flying robe. They put 
forth their rough hands to feel its soft texture; its 
warm, bright color gives pleasure to their eyes. As 
they gaze their pulses heighten, their steps become 
unsteady, their eyes wander from duty, their great 
sturdy frames quiver with emotion. The captain 
rallies them, but in vain. 

What secret foe is in their midst % Their parched 
tongues, cleaving to the roofs of their mouths, call 
for the surgeon. He comes — he questions, "From 
whence comest thou ? " ? From the Orient," the trav- 
eller replies. The surgeon gasps and shakes his head. 
He, too, is stricken with fear. " ' Tis the plague ! " 
he whispers. An unseen, deadly foe is stalking 
beneath that gay cloak! The traveller hears and 
shudders; he flings off his gay vestment. The waves 

(62) 



INVISIBLE INFLUENCES. 63 

gather up the silken folds. But the sacrifice is use- 
less. A fell hand strikes down both traveller and 
sailor. As they gasp and die they are hurried to the 
ship's side ; they are plunged overboard ; a seething, 
foaming grave yawns to receive them. 

The ship glides on. Those who remain wash the 
deck with water, They cannot wash away the de- 
mon which is everywhere and yet nowhere. . . . 
Poisons as subtle attend the human spirit, baneful 
and contagious as the plague ! 

See yonder peaceful cottage, nestling by the hill- 
side ; hope and contentment dwell therein ; within 
its walls beauty and grace awaken harmony. Lured 
by the bright sunshine, a stranger enters the door. 
He sits and chats awhile with the inmates. His 
talk is pleasant, and as he converses a cloud falls 
upon the house, the sunshine becomes darkened, and 
the dwellers within the pretty cottage shiver as with 
cold. They heed not the change, for the chat of 
their guest delights them. But when he departs he 
leaves behind him a poison more baneful than the 
plague. 

The inmates of the peaceful cottage look with 
gloomy eyes one upon the other; they become dis- 
satisfied and distracted among themselves, and dis- 
cord takes the place of harmony. 

Secret influences are at work, poisons thrown 
out by the sphere of the guest. A worse fate befalls 
them than befell the sailors who were invaded by the 
insidious Plague. 

I have seen in nature a fair face clouded sud- 
denly — made gloomy and unlovely — by the unspoken 



G4 JEAN PAUL BICETER. 

thought of another. Thought is contagious — some 
varieties of it poisonous ! I have seen the countenance 
of an innocent child transformed into ugliness by a 
poisonous thought. I have seen those who have 
looked upon her receive that thought and become 
likewise infected. 

I have seen also to this picture another and a 
brighter side. I have seen secret influences drawing 
individuals together, sustaining and upholding them ; 
as the long fine filaments of wool clasp each other 
and draw together the separate particles, so have I 
seen individuals united. Thus was the first Napoleon 
united to Josephine. A secret influence as potent as 
the plague passed from one to the other ; but it 
breathed health and not poison. 

Napoleon, with his powerful will, disrupted these 
magnetic relations ; he tore apart the unseen filaments 
that bound them ; and, the sustaining influence gone, 
he fell — a mighty wreck — on the bleak shore of 
St Helena. 

What man or woman can comprehend the secret 
influences that surround the soul. Keep guard; 
and when the blood stagnates within, when secret 
shudders, and gloomy thoughts, and inharmonious 
feelings arise, be sure that some poison-breathing 
foe is at hand. 

Set the door ajar, and resolutely turn your face 
from the secret influence that would destroy you. 



CHARLOTTE BRONTE. 

(CURRER BELL.) 



AGNES REEF.— A TALE. 

CHAPTER I. 



I was brought up and educated by my bachelor 
uncle. He was a reticent, moody man, and with his 
aged housekeeper and myself, led a solitary and un- 
social life in the old rambling house which had been 
his father's before him. 

I was but a child of six years when destiny placed 
me under his charge, and with him I remained eleven 
years; a scared, repressed little thing, revelling in 
strange fancies in the spidery attic rooms, and looking 
down through the dusty cobwebbed windows upon 
the life and movement below, unconscious that I 
formed a part of that active humanity. 

Thus I lived until I entered my seventeenth year. 
For the last two years my mind had been expanding 
and growing discontented with my lot. The morose- 
ness of my uncle, the sullenness of his housekeeper, 
the gloom and dinginess of the bare rooms had 
grown insupportable to me. These alone I might 
have endured, but added to them were other sources 
of disquiet, not the least of which being hints from 
the housekeeper that it was time I began to do some- 
thing for myself. Youth, pride, and ambition stirred 
6* (65) 



66 CHARLOTTE BRONTE. 

within me, and I actively set about looking for a 
situation. 

I had not long to wait; in one of the weekly 
papers, of which my uncle took many, I one day dis- 
covered an advertisement, which to my morbid fancy 
seemed sent by fate especially to me. 

A young lady was wanted to take charge of the 
education of a boy of eleven years. Upon reading 
this advertisement, I immediately sat down and wrote 
a letter, offering my services. 

By return mail I received a note acknowledging 
the receipt of mine, and stating that as I was th« 
only applicant and my testimonials satisfactory, I 
was accepted. 

I informed my uncle of my good fortune. Pie re- 
ceived the news with a gruff approval, adding that 
he hoped I would do well, as I could expect no fur- 
ther pecuniary aid from him than would be sufficient 
to carry me there. 

My emotions, as I packed my little trunk on that 
memorable Saturday, were of a mixed character ; but 
pleasure predominated. Hope beckoned me on ; and 
the sadness attendant on breaking loose from the 
unfriendly home in which I had lived so long was 
but transitory. 

Monday morning saw me seated composedly in the 
rail-coach on the way to " Bristed Hall," my destina- 
tion. Towards nightfall we stopped at a station in a 
desolate, sparsely-inhabited district. My road diverg- 
ing here, I hurried out, and the long train which 
connected me with my past life sped out of sight. 

Drawing my veil closely to my face to hide a few 



AGNES BEEF. 67 

falling tears, I looked around the desolate waiting- 
room, to see if any fellow-creature was expecting me. 
As I did so a heavy, thumping footstep sounded upon 
the platform, and a surly voice inquired : 

" Are you Miss Eeef % " accompanying the question 
by a slight pull at my shawl. 

Turning, I beheld a deformed little man with long 
arms and a high back, awaiting my answer to his 
question. I summoned courage to ask : 

" Were you sent for Miss Reef \ " 

" Yes," he replied, " I am Mr. Bristed's man. He 
told me to drive here and fetch home a Miss Reef — 
if you are that person, miss ! " touching his hat with 
an effort at politeness. 

" I am," I answered, and without further ado we 
proceeded to the carriage, which he had left waiting 
at the rear platform. 

The -evening air was chilly, for it was quite sunset. 
Drawing my shawl around me, I ensconced myself 
in a corner of the vehicle, and watched the fading 
landscape with stolid indifference to whatever might 
befall me. 

We drove on thus for a good hour and a half, 
halting at length before a dark, massy object, the 
form of which my dozy eyes could not discern. 
However, it proved to be Bristed Hall. 

I emerged from the carriage and passed up the 
steps to an open door which, at the pausing of our 
carriage wheels, had been set ajar. An old woman, 
the feminine counterpart of my sulky driver, stood in 
the dimly-lighted passage-way to receive me. She 
vouchsafed me but a grum welcome, but I felt al- 



68 CHARLOTTE BRONTE. 

ready too desolate and weary to experience any fur- 
ther depression from her humor. 

Bidding me follow her, and ordering the man to 
carry my luggage, she led me directly through the 
hall up the stairway to a chamber evidently prepared 
for my use. The apartment was prettily furnished, 
and its tidy appearance and the cheerful tire burning 
on the hearth quite roused my drooping spirits. 

After assisting me to remove my bonnet and 
shawl, my conductress left me, returning ere long 
with a tray containing refreshments. These she set 
before me with silent hospitality ; then bade me good- 
night, saying she would call me in the morning at 
eight o'clock for breakfast. 

My sleep that night was disturbed by dreams, 
which though vague filled me with terror. 

I imagined that L was walking through a long 
corridor, opening into a sumptuous apartment, its 
interior partly concealed by rich folds of damask 
curtains. I lifted the heavy drapery and essayed to 
enter, but a cold hand grasped mine and prevented 
me. A woman's figure, slight and youthful, with 
white face, great sad eyes, and long yellow hair, stood 
in the arched doorway and pressed me back with 
her clammy hand. I started up from my pillow in 
alarm to find myself alone ; the pale moonbeams 
streaming through the looped curtains of the window 
and glancing upon my forehead, I thought, probably 
accounted for the cold hand of my dream. I slept, 
and dreamed again. The scene was changed : a field 
of stubble lay before me ; through it I must make my 
way ; the rough ground hurt my feet ; I stumbled 



AGNES BEEF. 69 

and fell ; attempting to rise, I saw painted in clear 
relief against the horizon the same female figure. 

Her pale, golden hair hnng long and loose over 
her shoulders. As she caught my eye she lifted her 
finger as if in warning, and disappeared from sight. 



CHAPTER II. 

Feom these dreams I awakened in the morning 
perplexed, disturbed, and unrefreshed. After dress- 
ing, I was summoned to breakfast by the person who 
had received me the previous night. She led me 
down the stairway and through the hall into the 
breakfast room. 

It was a long, narrow apartment, with wainscots 
and floor of polished oak. A bright fire blazed upon 
the hearth. A small round stand was set forth, upon 
which was placed my solitary repast. I seated my- 
self and partook, with a relish, of the nice cakes, 
fragrant coffee, and sweet clover butter. 

Having finished my meal, I arose and walked to 
one of the deep-set windows which lighted the apart- 
ment. Lifting the curtain, I looked out. 

A grassy lawn overhung with trees ; clear gravel 
paths and well-trimmed shrubbery; beyond, rocks 
relieved by a patch of blue sky ; a thin line of light, 
neutral tinted, winding through the distant meadows, 
indicating a streamlet; these constituted the land- 
scape. 

Having spent a full quarter of an hour in abstract- 



70 CHARLOTTE BROXTE. 

edly gazing at this scene, I was called to reality by 
the opening of the room door, and a strange Toice 
repeating my name. The person presenting herself 
appeared to be an upper servant — a tall, thin woman, 
with dark hair sprinkled with gray, and an amiable, 
weak face. 

" If you have finished your breakfast, Miss, I will 
show you to Mr. Bristed's room." 

I assured her it was completed, and, following her, 
I crossed the hall and entered a door at the left. 
A pleasant odor of flowers met my grateful senses. 
The room was spacious, wide and deep, and hand- 
somely carpeted. The walls were ornamented with 
paintings and engravings. 

An ample arm-chair, which the owner had evi- 
dently just vacated, and a table containing books 
and papers, gave a tone of both comfort and ele- 
gance to the room, which was decidedly congenial to 
my taste. 

Two great glass doors, reflecting clearly the morn- 
ing sunbeams, led into a conservatory from whence 
issued the fragrance I perceived on entering. 

Among the flowers moved a tall, manly figure. As 
I entered, the gentleman came forward. 

" Miss Beef, Mr. Bristed," said my companion, by 
way of introduction. 

So this was my employer. As he stood before me, 
I surveyed him ; a well-formed gentleman, above the 
ordinary height, with pale complexion, set off by 
dark, penetrative eyes ; a shapely head covered with 
long, heavy masses of straight dark hair. The im- 
pression his appearance conveyed to me was that of 



AGNES BEEF. 71 

a person benevolent but apathetic ; unhappy without 
the will or power to shake off his burden. 

He bade me be seated. " You are young," said he, 
reflectively. " May I ask your age ? " 

" Seventeen," I replied. 

« Yery young," he reiterated, thoughtfully shaking 
his head; "however, as you are here, if you wish 
to remain, Mary will introduce you to your pupil." 

" I certainly wish to remain," said I, impatiently ; 
"I have journeyed quite a distance for that purpose, 
and shall be happy to commence the instruction of 
my pupil immediately." 

"Yery well," said he. "Mary, take her to the 
nursery, and attend to any of her wants." 

The girl opened a door adjoining that which we 
had entered by ; a narrow hall and a flight of stairs 
led us to the room indicated. 

A little solitary figure, breathing upon the window- 
glass, and tracing thereon letters with long, thin fin- 
gers, was the first object that presented itself to my eye, 

" Here is your governess, Herbert," said Mary. 

The little boy turned and surveved me with his 
large, blue, mournful eyes. They sent a quiver 
through my frame from their strange resemblance to 
eyes I had seen but the night before in my dream. 

He was apparently satisfied with his inspection, 
and his thin scarlet lips parted into a smile. 

I called him to me. He came forward timidly. 

Taking his small hand, I asked him a few ques- 
tions about his studies. I found him intelligent, but 
grave beyond his years ; very docile and obedient, and 
ere the end of the day we became excellent friends. 



72 CHARLOTTE BRONTE. 



CHAPTER in. 

I had lived six weeks at Bristed Hail, and, except- 
ing on my first arrival, had not interchanged a word 
with its master. 'Tis trne I would see him at times 
from the school-room window, walking through his 
park, or smoking upon the long piazza, but he might 
have been across the ocean for all the intercourse we 
had together. 

It was early June ; roses bloomed on every hedge. 
A season of dry weather had succeeded the showers 
of spring, the mornings were sparkling, the air de- 
licious. I arose early one particularly sunny morn, 
that I might take a walk, before the studies of the 
day commenced, to a natural lake which I had dis- 
covered about a mile from the Hall. 

Herbert begged to accompany me, and I, who 
loved at times the quiet of my own thoughts, reluc- 
tantly granted his request. 

We strolled out of the inclosure, and were lei- 
surely wending our way over the road, when onr 
attention was attracted by the sound of wheels 
emerging from a cross path. A carriage rolled 
briskly in view. The little hand of my companion, 
which I held locked in mine, trembled violently. 

" Oh, Miss Agnes, Miss Agnes ! " he cried, point- 
ing to the occupant of the carriage, " there is Uncle 
Bichard." 

As it neared us, the driver reined in his horses, 
which snorted impatiently as he paused, and a 
musical voice called out : 



1 AGNES BEEF. 73 

" Hallo ! you young varlet ; where are you going 
so early in the morning % " 

Herbert answered faintly, " I am going with Miss 
Reef to the lake." 

The gentleman at this reply waved his jewelled 
hand gracefully toward me. " Miss Reef, I am hap- 
py to make your acquaintance. So you are the 
young lady who has undertaken to be bored with my 
little nephew ? " 

"He is not a bore," said I, smilingly, captivated 
by the grace and abandon of the traveller. And 
truly his handsome countenance might have capti- 
vated a girl more experienced in the world's ways 
than myself. His was a gay, spirited face, complex- 
ion fair and rosy ; full red lips, graced with a curling 
moustache ; golden locks fit for an Adonis ; sunny, 
dancing eyes, and a figure rather massive, but well 
formed. Such was the impression I received of 
this " Uncle Richard." 

" Allow me to give you a seat in my brougham," 
said he. 

I thanked him, but refused. 

"Bound on some romantic expedition," he said, 
laughing ; " I can see it in your beaming eyes. Well, 
I suppose I must continue my solitary drive ; but 
don't tarry long at the dismal lake ; hasten back, as I 
shall want a companion to chat with in the empty 
Hall. 

I found Herbert unwilling to talk about his uncle, 
so I tried to dismiss the new comer from my thoughts, 
and engaged with my pupil in gathering wild flow- 
ers and grasses ^wherewith to form wreaths and 
7 



74 CHARLOTTE BRONTE. 

bouquets to adorn our school-room. After rambling 
about for an hour, we turned homeward. 

I felt quite excited upon reaching- the Hall, and 
hurried to my room to smooth my hair preparatory 
to commencing the labors of the day. If I stood 
over my mirror longer than usual, remember I was 
young, and had a laudable desire to please. As I 
surveyed myself in the glass, I was guilty of a plea- 
surable cognizance of the figure and face reflected 
there. The walk and unexpected encounter had 
given an unwonted brilliancy and vivacity to my 
countenance. My cheeks glow r ed ; my eyes sparkled ; 
and from my chestnut curls depended wild flowers, 
and wreaths of Herbert's twining ; altogether a 
pleasing picture presented itself to view, which, 
without vanity, I was thankful to behold. 

We had not been long at our lessons when a voice, 
gaily singing, approached the door, and without the 
ceremony of knocking, the gentleman whom we had 
passed in our morning ramble entered the room. 

" I have been looking all over for you ; why are 
you hiding yourself away up here % " said he, merrily. 
" Can you not take another pupil, Miss Reef ? " at 
the same time drawing up his chair to the table at 
which Herbert and myself were seated. 

"If he is as tractable as Herbert, I might venture," 
I replied, assuming the gay, mocking tone of my 
questioner. 

I soon saw that he was bent on remaining; so, 
taking from my desk a drawing-book and pencil, I 
placed them before him. 

" There is your task ; please not to interrupt me." 



AGNES REEF. 75 

I was determined not to be beguiled from my duty 
by this gay cavalier. He permitted us to pursue our 
studies iminterruptedly till he had finished his draw- 
ing. 

"There," he exclaimed, placing it before me, 
" Will you not reward me for my industry % " 

I looked at the sketch. It was bold and clear, 
shaded with a firm hand, spirited and original. I 
was truly surprised at the skill evinced. 

After that day he visited our room often, calling 
in during the morning to exchange a pleasant word, 
or at the close of the school hours to loiter over our 
drawings and chat of books and music. His visits 
began to grow too pleasant to me. Some effort must 
be made on my side to render them less attractive. 

One afternoon he entered as usual, and waited 
patiently till Herbert had recited his closing lesson. 
Then he arose, and taking a guitar from its case, 
commenced playing and singing a song in a most 
bewitching manner. 

" Come, Miss Reef," said he, when he had finished, 
" that beautiful hand is just made to glide over this 
instrument. Allow me to give you a lesson." 

Feeling that if I permitted him to encroach upon 
my position as governess I would be lost, I refused. 
I must give him to understand that I know my 
place and will not be trilled with, I thought ; so I 
arose and rang the bell for Mary. She soon ap- 
peared, apparently surprised at seeing Mr. Richard 
Bristed so much at home ia the school-room. 

" Mary, sit down ; I wish you to hem this handker- 
chief for Herbert," said I. 



76 CHARLOTTE BRONTE. 

She seated herself with my work-box before her, 
and commenced plying her needle industriously. 
The young gentleman looked on my arrangement 
with a lurking smile for a few moments, and then 
uttering a long, low whistle, arose from his chair and 
sauntered out. Passing me, he whispered : 

" I will remember you for this, Miss Reef." He 
did seem to remember it, as several days elapsed 
without his presenting himself. 

Once I met him in the hall, and he merely bowed. 
If he had wished to arouse in me an interest in him- 
self, he could not have pursued a better plan; for 
I grew restless and uneasy, regretting heartily that I 
had offended him. 



CHAPTER IV. 

After three days had passed thus, I concluded 1 
would explain to him my motive. Accordingly, in 
the afternoon, when my hour of recreation came, I 
brushed my hair carefully, changed my dress, and 
descended to the piazza on which he generally 
lounged in the afternoon with a cigar. 

As he was not there, I seated myself on a rustic 
chair to watch for him. I had not sat many min- 
utes when I heard the wheels of a carriage on the 
gravel path ; then the gay voice of Mr. Richard met 
my ear. I turned : he was seated in the vehicle with 
a valise beside him, and was apparently bound on a 
journey. As he caught sight of me, he raised his 
hat, bowed distantly, and drove off. 

A dreary sense of loneliness crept over me. The 



AGNES BEEF. 77 

setting sun filled the west with its golden splendor. 
Great yellow bars of sunlight streamed through the 
railing, and lit up the floor of the piazza. Sitting 
there I was bathed in its ruddy flood. Happy birds 
poured forth their evening song in the bushes near 
by ; but I was miserable and alone. All nature seemed 
to rejoice, while I, her child, was desolate. 

" You appear sad, miss," said a voice close beside 
me. I looked up and beheld the elder Mr. Bristed. 
He had evidently observed my emotion, and his 
dark eye looked a reproof that his lips did not utter. 

Presently, he seated himself near me, and asked a 
few questions as to the progress my pupil was 
making. Having satisfied him on those points, he 
inquired kindly if I was lonely or discontented. 

" Oh, no," I answered, heartily, hoping to place a 
barrier to any further inquiries on that point. 

" But you have been weeping," said he, in a sub- 
dued voice. 

"Not because I am lonely," said I, resolved to 
have the truth out ; " but I fear I have wounded the 
feelings of your brother." 

"My brother!" he repeated. "Ah! you have 
become acquainted with, him? He is bright and 
glittering like the sun ; but be careful, my child, be 
careful! Young birds should avoid the glittering 
steel of the fowler. But youth will seek its own ex- 
perience," he remarked, with a deep sigh. " No 
friendly warning will teach the young to beware of 
danger. But consider me your friend, Miss Reef, 
and let me likewise be your monitor." 

Without waiting for my reply, he hastily left me 
and entered the house. 7* 



78 CHARLOTTE BRONTE. 



CHAPTER Y. 

Four weeks elapsed ere Richard's return. During 
his absence Mr. Bristed showed his sympathy for my 
lonely situation by many little attentions; sending 
up to the school-room, now and then, choice fruit 
from his hot-house, or a bouquet of conservatory 
flowers, and, several times in the early evening, he 
sent for me to read aloud to him. 

I found him to be a quiet, polished gentleman ; 
and I grew to like him, and to look for his tokens of 
kindness after my daily labors with growing interest, 
and, if they came not, to feel disappointed and un- 
happy. He had travelled much and could talk well, 
and under the influence of a sympathetic listener, his 
countenance lit up with kindly emotion, and the sad 
lines of his face disappeared beneath a happy smile. 

But in the glowing midsummer his truant brother 
returned, and my new-born interest vanished like 
snow before the harvest sun. 

Again Mr. Richard exerted his varied powers to 
fascinate and amuse me. Again I listened, and 
struggled, as formerly, against his wiles, and Anally 
bent a too willing ear to his soft words of praise and 
admiration. With secret pleasure I reveled in his 
ardent language, hugging to my heart the belief that 
I was loved. 

How that summer sped by on its golden wings ! 
Time passed on, as in some delicious opium dream ! 
And when the short days and long nights of the 
Christmas holidays set in, I found myself secretly 
engaged in marriage to Richard Bristed. 



AGNES REEF. 79 

Of our plans and attachment his brother was not 
at present to be informed: this stern brother who 
shut himself up apart from his species, and who, 
Richard told me, was of too cold a nature to sym- 
pathize with love. 

" He will dismiss you, Agnes, if he hears -of it," he 
said. "Wait till I have settled up my affairs, and 
then he can do his worst" 

I believed this statement ; I forgot all my former 
good impressions of Mr. Bristed, and listened to the 
tales that were told me of how he had wronged 
Richard. I learned to regard him as a robber, a 
hypocrite whose statements could not be relied on ^ a 
false, dark, bad man. As for Richard, he seemed a 
king in comparison ; a noble, magnanimous being, 
whom some kind fairy had bestowed upon me. 

But that cold, relentless Fate, which comes to tear 
off the painted wrappings of life, revealing the bare 
and ugly reality beneath, was fast pursuing me. 

At the close of a cold, snowy day, I had retired 
early to my room, and having locked the door that 
I might be free from interruption, sat down to look 
over the dainty articles of dress which I had been 
shyly accumulating for my approaching marriage. 

It was but a scanty outfit, but to me it appeared 
munificent as that of a princess. I could never weary 
of looking at these beautiful garments ; I placed them 
in one light, and then in another; I folded and 
unfolded them, and finally ended by trying them on, 
and admiring in the mirror their perfect adaptation 
to my face and figure. A long time must have 



80 CHABLOTTE BRONTE. 

passed in this way, when the hall clock struck the 
hour of midnight. Astonished at the lateness of the 
night, I threw down the laces and ribbons winch I 
was combining into some airy article of dress, and 
was preparing to remove my bridal attire, when I 
was amazed to hear a key turning in the lock of my 
door. Fear and surprise nailed me to the floor. The 
door glided softly open and in stepped Mr. Richard 
Bristed ! He seemed surprised to see me thus. 

" What ! up and dressed ? " he exclaimed, in a loud 
whisper. "O my beauty! my wife! I have come 
to claim you to-night. You shall be mine. No 
power on earth shall withhold us now ! " 

" How strangely you talk, Richard," said I. " You 
forget it is so late. We cannot go to church at this 
hour." 

" Ah, dearest, this is church ! See, I have brought 
you this ring. We will stand up before God and our 
own hearts, and I will marry you here. We need no 
other witnesses than ourselves and this ring ! " 

Though my youthful heart was blinded by love 
and passion, I was not prepared for this. Excitement 
and the strangeness of the proposition overcame 
me, and I broke forth into sobs. 

He endeavored to soothe me, urging his request 
with a pleading force which I could scarcely with- 
stand. 

" I am not prepared, Richard," said I, drying my 
tears ; " this is so sudden, so unlooked for, I must 
have time for thought." 

But thought only revealed a gaping abyss, from 
which I must fly. 



AGNES REEF. 81 

He continued to urge his plea ; but seeing I would 
not yield, his countenance changed. The sweet, 
seductive smile vanished. He grew white as the 
moonbeam, and, clenching his hand and setting his 
teeth, bent over me, whispering huskily : 

" Agnes, I shall not step from this room to-night. 
1 have the key. You have promised to be mine. 
You shall keep that promise. To-night you shall 
keep that promise ! " 

If he was pale, I became paler. A cold chill crept 
over me. But I took my resolution, unyielding as 
death, not to grant his. request. 

A chasm seemed to yawn before me. The loneli- 
ness and f riendlessness of my position were presented 
to my mind with terrific reality. A deadly swoon- 
like feeling ensued. To yield in this might seal my 
fate. I paced the floor rapidly, praying for help. 

Help came suddenly. As I passed the door of my 
wardrobe, I remembered that the same key unlocked 
this and the door of my apartment. I drew it forth, 
and in the twinkling of an eye I was free. 

The cool air from the outside passage, and the 
prospect of liberty, cooled my excited nerves, and 
revived me for the work I had to accomplish. 

" Richard," said I, my hand upon the latch, " you 
or I must leave." 

He made no reply, but violently rising from his 
hair, grasped something that lay near him, and tear- 
ing it to atoms, rushed by me without word or look, 
and reaching the stairs, hastened out of sight. 

Mechanically I sat down, and with sad, straining 
eyes surveyed the wreck before me. My bridal 



82 CHARLOTTE BRONTE. 

wreath was shivered into fragments ; its white petals, 
like fruit blossoms caught in an untimely blast, 
sprinkled the floor ; my laces were in shreds like the 
riven mast of some shipwrecked vessel. 

Of course there was no sleep for me that night. 
When worn out with thinking and weeping, I drew 
a large easy chair up to the door and sat there as 
guard, listening, with the hope which moment after 
moment grew fainter, that he would return and 
whisper in my willing ear a sweet demand for par- 
don, some word in extenuation for his unseemly 
conduct ; but he came not. 

Toward daybreak, I was aroused from the lethargy 
into which I had fallen from sheer exhaustion by 
the sound of excited voices and hurried movements 
in the room below. As these subsided and the gray 
morning broke, 1 was startled by the sound of a 
horse's hoofs on the graveled walk. 

A fearful foreboding possessed me ; what could it 
mean? Somebody was riding away; who was it? 
Through the gate and down the avenue I heard the 
galloping steed. 

I dragged my nerveless limbs to the window and 
peered forth. Clear against the horizon, now streaked 
with pale crimson rays of dawn, rising in bold relief 
I beheld the receding figure of Richard Bristed. 

He was leaving me without word or sign. My 
head reeled; I grasped the window casement to 
steady myself, and sank insensible upon the floor. 



AGNES BEEF. 83 

CHAPTER VI. 
I must liave remained in this condition some hours. 



for the sun was high in the heavens when I opened 
my eyes and became conscious. Where was I % Not 
in my own room, surely ; the fragrance of exotics did 
not penetrate my lattice ; the simple honeysuckle that 
twined around my window breathed forth a different 
perfume from this. My heart gave one glad leap. 
Oh, it is all a dream ! I thought ; Richard's gallop- 
ing down the road, and all the past night's misery is 
a dream ! With this reflection a happy tranquility 
was stealing over me, when I heard a well-known 
voice exclaim : 

" Look, Mary, attend her ; she has opened her eyes, 
thank God." 

It was Mr. Bristed's voice, and as lie spoke Mary 
approached me, and bending over, bathed my head 
with scented water. " Hope you feel better, Miss," 
said she. 

" Have I been ill, Mary % Where am I P 

" In master's library." 

Surely it was so. I was lying upon a divan near 
the conservatory. Alas, I was not dreaming ! I sat 
up and looked drearily around, and as I did so Mr. 
Bristed drew near with, a beautiful lily in his hand, 
which he offered to me. He inquired kindly after 
my health and looked pleased when I told him I felt 
quite strong. Indeed I did feel strong for the mo- 
ment, and arose determined to leave the room. 

" Sit still — where are you going % " he asked 
anxiously. 



84 CHARLOTTE BRONTE. 

"Going to the school-room — going to see Her- 
bert," 1 replied. 

" Herbert," said he, and his countenance darkened ; 
" you cannot see Herbert, he is ill." 

Not see Herbert, and he ill % What could be the 
matter % He was well but yesterday. 

Mr. Bristed's strange manner, coupled with Rich- 
ard's absence and the fearful events of the night, 
seemed likely to turn my brain. 

He saw my startled look of inquiry, and said, 
" Be quiet awhile ; I have something of importance 
which I will communicate to you by-and-by, when 
you are composed." 

" Mary," he ordered, " ring the bell for breakfast 
to be sent hither; meanwhile, Miss Reef, while 
awaiting our coffee, if you will walk with me in the 
conservatory I will take pleasure in showing you my 
tropical curiosities." 

I followed him languidly with wandering thoughts. 
Gradually, however, I grew interested and listened 
with increased attention to his animated description 
of the homes and haunts of the wonders by which 
he was surrounded. He had visited many climes, 
and gathered each strange flower and plant he had 
seen in its native clime. He became eloquent and 
genial as he described the strange habits and pecu- 
liarities of his floral companions, which he seemed to 
regard as a species of humanity ; to him they were 
not inanimate existences — creations — but objects 
endowed with soul and sensation. 

While we were thus conversing, Mary announced 
that breakfast was ready, and I reluctantly accompa- 



AQNES REEF. 85 

xried him to the library. He almost compelled me to eat, 
selecting for me dainty morsels to tempt my appetite. 

Mr. Bristed evidently labored under some mental 
disquiet, which he evinced by undue efforts at cheer- 
fulness. 

Breakfast being removed I sought to withdraw 
from the . room, but he requested me to remain, 
and dismissing Mary, seated himself in an easy chair 
next the ottoman on which I rested, and warming his 
hands over the fire, his eyes bent upon the blaze, 
said, with an abruptness that was natural to him : 

"I am not accustomed to concern myself about 
strangers, Miss Reef, but in you I have felt a peculiar 
interest since the day we first met. You will re- 
member I warned you then that you were too young 
for the responsibility which I foresaw awaited you. 
I feared at that time that Richard, on seeing so bright " 
a flower, would endeavor to snatch it from its stem. 
My fears have been realized ; you see I am acquainted 
with what has taken place, and now the hour has 
come when you and I must part." 

" Oh no," cried I gaspingly, " not yet, not yet." 

" Miss Reef," he demanded solemnly, " why will 
you delay % I understand what you would say ; you 
desire to see Richard again, but that can never be ; 
you have looked your last upon him in this life. I 
know his magnetic influence over you; once again 
under that influence you are lost ! " 

I did not like what he said. He overstepped the 
bounds of courtesy, I thought. The warning which 
Richard had given me against him revived in force 
and I recoiled from him, saying : 
8 



86 CHARLOTTE BRONTE. 

" Sir, your brother is my friend ; I can listen to 
nothing in his disfavor." 

He sighed, " All, Agnes, you are but a child. The 
sun just rising above yonder horizon must soon be 
darkened ; I see the gathering cloud and would warn 
you of the approaching storm. "Why will you turn 
from me when I desire to help you ? " 

His musical voice was so sympathetic that it moved 
me deeply; but I shook my head and answered pas- 
sionately, " I cannot trust you. You wrong him, and 
would compel me to wrong him too." 

" My child," said he sadly, " I had hoped to have 
saved you from further anguish, but perhaps it is 
best that you should know all. Come with me." 

He opened the door and led me to a room on the 
opposite side of the hall. I knew it to be the room 
where Herbert slept. 

" Let us go in," he whispered. 

We entered softly: the apartment was darkened, 
but a dainty crib which occupied the centre of the 
floor could be dimly seen. As we stepped in, his 
nurse, who was bending over the cot, moved with 
hushed footsteps away to give us room. 

There he lay, my dear, sick lamb ! I was so glad 
to be permitted to see him. But the result of no or- 
dinary sickness met my eye. 

Great purple rings had settled around his closed 
eyelids, his lips were blue, his sweet mouth partly 
opened, he seemed to breathe with difheulty. I could 
not speak. Mr. Bristed turned down the coverlet 
from the little shoulders. 

"Look, Miss Eeef," said he hoarsely, his voice 



AGNES BEEF. 87 

quivering with agitation, pointing to some hideous 
marks on the little sufferer's throat — "those are his 
finger marks." 

I sickened. What crime was this that he hinted 
at so strangely % But the insinuation was too incred- 
ible. The thought that he was working on my 
credulity exasperated me. 

" If you want me to leave your house, Mr. Bristed, 
command me and I will go, but you cannot force me 
to believe this horrid inference." 

He must have felt the disdain with which I 
spurned him, for he turned upon his heel and left 
the room. 

I then spoke to Herbert. At the sound of my 
voice he moved, and I seated myself by his side. 
Quietness seemed desirable, and I was not inclined 
to break it. Now and then I moistened his lips with 
a little wine and water. Seeing that I still sat by 
the crib, the nurse lay down upon a settee and fell 
asleep. 

Hours thus passed. The days were short and twi- 
light came on rapidly. Sitting there in the gather- 
ing gloom, I began to hum inadvertently a little song 
which Herbert loved me to sing to him. Hearing 
my voice chant his favorite ditty, the poor little crea- 
ture stirred in his crib, and his pale lips parted into 
a smile. Presently, in broken tones he asked, "Is 
that Miss Beef?" 

"Yes, Herbert, darling, I have come to sing to 
you," said I, mastering my emotions and chirruping 
more loudly his beloved song. 

The effect seemed truly magical — he endeavored 



88 CHARLOTTE BRONTE. 

to raise up his little body. " Oh, sing it again," he 
cried. 

" Would you like to sit upon my knee % " 

He nodded assent, and I made an effort to lift him 
up, but he was weak and heavy, and I not sufficiently 
strong to sustain him. As he fell back, my eyes 
caught sight again of those fearful marks. Some 
power outside of myself forced me to ask, " Herbert, 
what ails your throat ; has any one hurt you ?" 

At the question, a tremor fearful to witness passed 
through his frame, and looking at me with an expres- 
sion of preternatural intelligence, he whispered, "He 
tried to choke me." 

Stunned with horror at this again repeated asser- 
tion, I sank down and buried my face in my hands. 
I could think but one thought, and that was a wish 
that I were dead ! 



CHAPTER VII. 

But my nature would not permit me at such a 
crisis to remain passive long. I must arouse myself 
and act. Calling the nurse to take my place, I went 
to seek Mr. Bristed. I found him, as usual, in his 
library. 

"Sir," said I, "I am calm now; will you not ex- 
plain to me this frightful mystery \ I will listen and 
thank you." 

He placed a chair for me to be seated, and taking 
my hand, said gently : — 

" Miss Keef — Agnes, you are too weak to hear this 
that you seek to know." 



AGNES BEEF. 89 

"No, no," I exclaimed, vehemently; "I am not 
weak ; I must know all." 

lie arose and paced the floor hurriedly for a few 
moments ; then muttering, " It is best — I will tell her," 
he said : 

" You have been surprised, no doubt, Agnes, at the 
frankness with which I have expressed my opinion 
of Richard's character — let me inform you that he 
and I are not brothers. lie is a half-brother, the 
offspring of my father's second marriage; though 
indeed I doubt if he have a right to even that rela- 
tionship. I have heard dark hints thrown out that 
my father had been deceived, and that this child 
who claimed to be his son should look in a lower 
quarter for his father. Richard's mother was not a 
woman of high moral principle, and he partakes of 
her nature. My father provided for him well, but 
as I was the elder son the bulk of his large property 
became mine by inheritance ; but Richard has always 
made the Hall his home when in England — indeed, 
he has a legal right during his lifetime to the use of 
the room he occupies. lie has not, however, often 
availed himself of this right since I have had his son 
Herbert under my protection." 

" His son Herbert ?" I repeated, mechanically. 

" Yes, poor child, his son ; though the boy has al- 
ways been taught to call him uncle. Neither Richard 
nor myself desire the relationship to be known, and 
it is only in hope of serving you that I reveal it." 

" Richard married ? " I said, f alteringly. 

"Ah, Agnes, there are many women whom he 
should never have seen, as he could not marry them," 



90 CHARLOTTE BRONTE. 

said tie, with the slow determination of a man re- 
solved on uttering a repulsive truth. Herbert's 
mother was a beautiful but penniless orphan of good 
family, who visited this house some years since in the 
capacity of companion to our great-aunt. 

During that visit I became enamoured with her, 
and we were secretly engaged in marriage. It was 
before the death of my father, and I was not my own 
master; but I loved her truly, and meant well by 
her, only desiring her to wait till I should be free 
to please myself. But Richard stepped in between 
me and my happiness. He stole this girl's heart from 
me ; gained her love as he has endeavored to obtain 
yours, by flattery and dissimulation — you see I am 
not wily and smooth enough to please women — but 
also he destroyed her peace under promise of mar- 
riage ; leaving her soon after and going abroad with- 
out acquainting her with his purpose. 

" I was temporarily from home when this occurred. 
On returning in the course of a month, Richard fled, 
as I have stated; but I was ignorant then of the 
cause, and it was not till in the agony of shame she 
came to me for help with her secret, that I became 
aware of his perfidy. 

" I need not tell you that I gave her all the aid in 
my power ; her child Herbert was born and secretly 
cared for. "When he was about two years old, the 
great-aunt of whom I have spoken died, leaving a 
large proportion of her property to Alice, of whose 
misfortune she had never dreamed. 

"Wealth came to the unfortunate girl too late. 
The shock she had received from Richard's deceit 



AGNES BEEF. 91 

had preyed upon her health, and she was failing 
rapidly, when he, hearing of her good fortune, re- 
turned home. 

" With his specious address he might have regained 
his old ascendancy over her had I not interfered. 
You know well, Agnes, his peculiar gift of fascina- 
tion. I believe he could by some unexplainable psy- 
chological process make any great wrong appear 
right to a woman. But I induced her to bequeath 
her wealth to Herbert, and secure it, for a time at 
least, beyond Richard's control — and he owes me a 
grudge for it. 

" Herbert, she left under my care, unless, of his own 
free will, he chose to reside with Richard, who in 
that case was to become his guardian; and in the 
event of Herbert's death before reaching his ma- 
jority, the whole property was to revert to Richard 
Bristed. You see she loved him still. Unjust but 
womanlike, her love was stronger than her judg- 
ment. 

"Well," said he, after eyeing me thoughtfully, 
"you listen as if you did not rightly comprehend 
what I have been saying ! " 

I was indeed stunned by his communication. 
Could it be, I thought, with suppressed fear, that the 
shadowy -figure which had haunted my bed-chamber 
and had visited me in dreams was the same wronged 
Alice ? Had she arisen from her grave beneath the 
granite of the church-yard to warn me % Or are the 
dead jealous of their rights? Do they cling to their 
earthly love ? I queried. JBut when he spoke I shook 
off these thoughts that were rising like mist to ob- 



92 CHARLOTTE BRONTE. 

scare my judgment, and answered, "/am. I am 
listening ; proceed." 

" Agnes, through your influence Richard has hoped 
to obtain possession of Herbert and control over his 
fortune. He has thought to entrap you as he did 
Alice, and through his power over you has calculated 
to carry out the project of his prolific brain." 

Till this moment I had listened silently to his 
strange recital, but I could not brook this insinua- 
tion. The story, to my mind, did not appear clear. 
How could Richard expect to obtain, through my 
agency, possession of a son whom he had never ac- 
knowledged? 'Tis true I remembered him to have 
said that he feared I would miss my pupil very 
much. He had asked playfully what would Herbert 
do without me, but he had not suggested taking the 
child away with us, and therefore Mr. Bristed's 
charge appeared to my mind unfounded, and I told 
him so. 

" Ah, my child ! " he replied, " you know not the 
devising power of this man. He has an agent here 
in tins place, in the shape of old Crisp, the hunch- 
back. It has been his plan, under promise of mar- 
riage, to decoy you from this house ; he would prob- 
ably have left his child to Crisp's good agency, with 
orders to join you. Herbert loves you, and would 
have gone willingly in your company, but alone with 
Richard he would not have moved one step. Once 
out of my reach in some distant city, he would have 
had the reins in his own hand. It was by an unex- 
pected, but I hope fortunate chance, that I overheard 
a conversation to this effect between him and the 



AGNES REEF. 93 

deformed servant. I could not ascertain the day set 
for tliis adventure, but I surmised that it was at no 
remote date, and I have kept alert. You have 
avoided me, Miss Reef, and I have been obliged to 
watch your movements distantly. Not from suspi- 
cion of you, for I know you to be pure and honor- 
able, but because you are under my protection, and 
because" — he hesitated — I wondered what was com- 
ing next. I had a presentiment that he was about to 
make an avowal which I ought to shun, but before I 
could evade him he turned suddenly toward me, his 
face white with emotion, and continued — "I love you, 
Agnes, though it is no time now to speak of my pas- 
sion, and have watched over you as a father, a 
brother, a lover would watch." 

This announcement affected me more than I care to 
confess, considering I did not return his love, but it 
was the allusion to his sheltering care that moved me. 

" Yes, I have watched over you ; orphan that you 
are, you need some guardian care. I knew by your 
frequent journeys to the village, by your cloistering 
in your own apartment, and more than all, by your 
speaking countenance, that you were preparing for 
some great event in your life. 

" Last night I could not sleep ; I laid my head upon 
my pillow, but finding it impossible to close my eyes 
I arose and dressed. Sitting by my window I 
thought I heard a commotion in your room. I lis- 
tened until my surmises grew into certainty. The 
hour was midnight, and your door, which at that sea- 
son is usually closed like a cloister-gate, swung on its 
hinges. 



94 CHARLOTTE BRONTE. 

" This alarmed me ; I unlocked my door and looked 
out. Soon a hasty step retreating from your chamber 
met my ear. Descending the stairs, this untimely 
visitor entered the room where Herbert lay sleeping. 
A strange suspicion came over me. Can the intruder 
be Richard ? I thought. If so, what was he doing at 
that hour of the ni^ht? I seized a lighted candle 
and rushed to the boy's apartment, and there I found 
Richard, maddened, and beside himself with liquor 
and frenzy. I was just in time to save Herbert's life 
from his insane fury. 

" I know not what had occurred between you and 
him, Agnes, but this I know, he had failed in some 
diabolical plot he had contemplated. Chance or a 
friendly Providence had thwarted, his purpose. I 
had him in my power, and compelled him to leave 
the house, not to return until you have been removed 
where he will never find you. 

" I cannot leave my beautiful bird, my pet dove, 
where the charms of this wily serpent may ensnare 
her." 

He ceased. My eyes were dry, my heart turned 
to stone. I arose, and mechanically moved toward 
the door. 

"Where are you going, Agnes? Tell me of 
your plans ; regard me as your friend, I beg." 

" Take me away — take me away," I cried hysteri- 
cally ; " I must go ! Oh, oh, oh ! " I should have fallen, 
but he caught me in his arms. 



AGNES REEF. 95 



CHAPTER VIII. 

On reviving came the dread feeling that I must 
go. Go whither? I had no home. I could not 
return to my uncle who had cast me adrift. The in- 
quisitive glance of his grim housekeeper would anni- 
hilate me. But go I must, and that speedily. 

With weary head and aching heart I commenced 
packing my little wardrobe. My bridal attire I has- 
tily covered from sight that it might remain until 
time and mildew should obliterate it. My dream of 
love was past. I felt that my youth and beauty were 
buried in that crushed pile of broken flowers, pale 
silk, and dishevelled lace. 

I had concluded my work, and was tying my bon- 
net-strings, when a knock at the door announced Mr. 
Bristed. He appeared surprised at seeing me ar- 
ranged for my journey. 

" So soon, Agnes % " said lie. " You are not yet able 
to leave." 

But as I expressed very emphatically my ability 
and determination to start immediately, he saw ex- 
postulation would be useless. 

" Well," said he, " let me hear where you contem- 
plate going." 

I told him I should take the railway or coach to 
some point, I cared not where; any distant city 
or village from whence I could advertise for another 
situation. I was too hopeless then to care whither I 
went. 

" And do you think I would permit you to leave 
me thus at random, going, you know not where, with- 



96 CHARLOTTE BRONTE. 

out any preconceived plans? Oh my poor, poor 
child, to be thrown thus upon the world ! " 

He walked the floor several times, apparently in 
great agitation ; then, suddenly pausing, said abruptly, 
almost violently, " It must not be ! Agnes, don't go," 
lowering his voice, and placing his hand gently on 
my shoulder ; " stay with me — become my wife. I 
love yon and will cherish yon. No rude blast that 
my arm can shield you from shall assail you. My 
life has been one of gloom, you can render it one of 
sunshine. Stay, dear one, oh, stay ! " and in his 
transport he seized my hands. 

" What do you mean, Mr. Bristed \ " said I, recoil- 
ing from him. " Surely, you must forget yourself 
and the circumstances which have so recently oc- 
curred ; you have accused me of loving your brother, 
how, then, can I transfer my affections to you % Oh, 
you are cruel, cruel ! " 

" Forgive me," said he, penitently ; " I will do any- 
thing for you, Agnes — take you away, if you wish; 
only let me go with you and see that you are pro- 
perly cared for." 

I shook my head. 

"Richard may seek to find you;' you may fall 
again into his evil hands if you insist on going thus 
alone." 

" Mr. Bristed," said I, " thus far I have acted as 
you directed. I will depart at your solicitation ; 
but further than this, I must be free. If Richard 
seeks me out, and I can aid him, I will do so. De- 
graded and fallen though he be, my love will not 
shrink from him. I will help him to rise." 



AGNES REEF. 97 

u You are a noble woman, Agnes," he said with a 
sad smile, " God protect you ! " and he left me. 

As he went out, I heard him order the carriage. 
The serving-man came for my luggage, and I sum- 
moned courage to pay a farewell visit to Herbert. 

The poor little invalid became very much excited 
at seeing me, and clung so tightly about my neck 
that it was with effort I could leave. I did not then 
inform him of my intended departure, and with an 
aching heart and forced smile I parted from the dear 
sufferer. 

1 met Mary in the hall; she told me Mr. Bristed 
had ordered her to accompany me on my journey. 

I did not want her company, my mind craved soli- 
tude; I would not have her. I sought her master, 
and told him so. "At a time like this I must be 
alone," said I, excitedly ; " I want no spy upon my 
actions. I will go wherever you wish me to go, 
but let me proceed alone." 

" Well," said he, musingly, " I desire but to serve 
you. Go to the town of M., present this letter ac- 
cording to its directions. You refuse my further aid, 
but if ever you need a friend, send for me ; otherwise, 
I will never trouble you." 

I answered that I would do as he requested, and 
with a heavy heart entered his carriage, which was 
waiting to drive me to the railway station. 



CHARL0T1E BRONTE. 



CHAPTER IX. 



I will pass over my journey, and the lonely, mis- 
erable days which succeeded my arrival in M. I 
made fruitless effort to obtain service, and waited 
and watched for an application in my dreary lodg- 
ings until my small hoard of wages was nigh ex- 
hausted. 

I had been in the city a fortnight, broken in spirit 
and dejected by want of success, when I happened to 
bethink me of the letter Mr. Bristed had given me. 

I took it from its undisturbed nook in my trunk, 
and having read the superscription, set about to find 
the party to whom it was addressed. The direction 
led me to a large manufacturing establishment. 

The gentleman to whom it was written appeared 
to be a foreigner. Having presented the epistle to 
him, he perused it hastily, then taking my hand with 
great eagerness, he exclaimed : 

a O Mees! I am greatly honored. Mons. Bristeed 
is my very good friend ; I well acquaint with him 
in Paris. I congratulate you on having one so grand 
a gentleman for your acquaintance. He tell me you 
look for a school." 

" Yes, sir, " said I, glad to find my tastes had been 
studied ; " I do desire a school." 

" I will assist with pleasure, Mees. Be seated ; in 
a few moments I will accompany you." 
- I sat down, wondering whither the gay, loquacious 
gentleman would lead me. 

He soon rejoined me, hat in hand. 

"Will you accept my escort, Mees; the place is 



AGNES REEF. 99 



near by," said he, reading the note. " No. 14 B , 

street. Will you walk, or shall I call a cab % " 

" I will walk," I answered, scarcely knowing what 
reply was expected. As we turned the corner of the 
street I ventured to ask : 

" Is it to some school you are guiding me 1 " 

"Ah, Mees," said he, rubbing his hands together 
and laughing, " it is some great secret. Moiis. Bris- 
teed would surprise you. Have a leetle patience, 
and all will be divulged." 

We walked rapidly for a space and then paused 
before a handsome building. 

Entering the courtyard, we rang the silver bell. A 
servant answered our summons and invited us in. 
Seated in the drawing-room, I heard the buzz of 
many voices. 

"Is it an academy?" I whispered to Monsieur 
Pilot, my conductor. He smiled encouragingly. 

" This is a young ladies' seminary, Mees." 

Before I could question further, the room door 
opened, and a lady of tall, imposing figure entered. 

Monsieur Pilot commenced a vehement conversa- 
tion with her in French. She responded in the same 
tongue. The dialogue ended, he turned to me and 
said : 

"Mees Beef, permit me to introduce you to 
Madame Fontenelle." 

Madame smiled very graciously upon me, and then 
recommenced the gesticulation and babble of the 
two. At length she appeared satisfied with the un- 
derstanding at which they arrived. I was growing 
uneasy at their prolonged volubility, when Monsieur 
Pilot pirouetted up to me, and said : 



100 CHARLOTTE BRONTE. 

" Mees Eeef , I beg to congratulate you. Madame 
consents to transfer this mansion into your hands, 
She accepts our recommendation and that of your 
own intelligent countenance. Mons. Bristeed was not 
mistaken in the impression you would make. I wish 
you joy in having become the proprietress of this 
splendid institution." 

" How," I cried in astonishment ; " I proprietor % 
I do not understand. Please explain." 

Madame looked blandly on; my remarks were 
evidently unintelligible to her. 

" It is a very onerous and responsible position, Ma- 
demoiselle " — shrugging her shoulders — " I should not 
like to advise you. Do you comprehend the extent 
of the undertaking % I should not be willing to trust 
my pupils in timid hands." 

Her remarks stung me, and gave, I presume, the 
favorable turn to my destiny, for I felt the power to 
undertake a task which I would before have shrunk 
from. 

" I will do my duty in all cases to the best of my 
ability, madame ! " was my brief reply. 

"Ah, you do not comprehend, Madame;" said 
Monsieur Pilot, coming briskly to the rescue. " This 
is a surprise to Mees Peef . My very good friend 
Monsieur Bristeed has not apprised the young lady 
of his bounty. I have his commission to purchase 
for her this establishment, which he is aware you 
desire to dispose of, Madame. His recommendation 
of the young lady is surely sufficient." 

" The whole establishment ?" I asked, with an effort 
at composure. 



AGNES BEEF. 101 

" Yes," replied Madame. " I am obliged to start 
for the West Indies, and must dispose of all. The 
present instructors are thoroughly competent for 
their various positions ; they merely need a super- 
visor. You appear young, but I presume experience 
has fitted you for the office." 

"Eminently so, eminently," answered Monsieur 
Pilot promptly, as if he had been guardian of my 
reputation for years. " We will consider the arrange- 
ments as complete, my dear Madame. I will call 
to-morrow and close the transaction. Bon jour, 
Madame." ' 

And with rapid strides he hurried me away. 



CHAPTER X. 

The school became mine. By vigilance and per- 
severance, I not only retained the pupils Madame 
had transmitted to my care, but added many thereto. 

Monsieur Pilot, lively and friendly, visited me fre- 
quently. I liked the little Frenchman; his gaiety 
served to divert my mind from reflections on the 
past, which like spectres would sometimes stalk 
grimly before me when unoccupied, I sought the 
quiet of my own chamber. 

With my increasing success, my pupils' interest 
fully occupied every moment of my time. Mean- 
time, not a line or word reached me from Bristed 
Hall. Upon my installment as proprietor of Madame's 
seminary, I had written to Mr. Bristed, thanking 
him for his kindness, and informing him that I 



102 CHARLOTTE BRONTE. 

should take measures to repay the expenditures he 
had incurred in my behalf, by placing quarterly in 
the hands of Monsieur Pilot a sum such as I could 
spare from my income, by means of which I hoped 
in time to repay my external indebtedness. 

The only reply I received to this letter was a per- 
emptory refusal, sent through Monsieur Pilot, to 
accept any return. 

I had been more than a year in my new home. 
Constant employment had developed my mind, and 
I nattered myself on having acquired a wisdom and 
sedateness such as ten years of quiet experience 
could not have given me. But of this I was lament- 
ably mistaken. 

Of my silly yielding to circumstances which fol- 
low, the reader must not judge too harshly. 1 
was still but an immature woman, not yet twenty; 
the glamour of youth still hung over me. I craved 
human love, and took the first that presented itself, 
just as any other ardent, imaginative girl in my 
place would have done. 

One night late in autumn, when the sharp winds 
were already giving signals of the coming winter, of 
leafless trees and frozen ground, feeling the usual 
sadness which accompanies this season of the year, 
I walked out upon the piazza in front of the house, 
looking down upon the street. I thought the keen 
air would put my blood in more active circulation, 
and thus dispel from my mind the brown and yellow 
fancies that filled it as the dying leaves of October 
strewed the ground. 

My pupils had all retired to their rooms, and re- 



AGNES BEEF. 103 

lieved of my charge, my thoughts were free to 
recreate. I walked quickly back aud forth, drawing 
in long draughts of the invigorating air, and review- 
ing the morning's duties. While thus engaged, my 
attention was arrested by the appearance of a tall 
man on the opposite side of the street, standing still 
and watching me. As he caught my startled gaze 
he lifted his hat and bowed, and before I had time.- 
to reflect on his strange proceedings, had crossed the 
street and was standing on the pavement below. 

" Agnes ! " 

My God, he called me by name ! My blood 
became like ice. Shaking from head to foot I 
covered my eyes with my hands, and would have run 
in, but the whistling wind brought the cry again : 

" Agnes ! Let me speak with you." 

Quick as the words were uttered the dark figure 
mounted the stone steps, only the little iron railing 
of the balcony dividing us. 

I knew then who it was. 

" Will you open the door, or shall I ? " said a voice 
which I remembered too well. 

I saw no alternative, without disturbing the neigh- 
borhood and betraying myself ; so, like a criminal, 
I stepped softly to the hall and unlocked the door. 
He came in with a light, free step, and seated him- 
self upon a couch with the ease of an old friend and 
accomplished gentleman. It was Richard Bristed ! 

I will not detail what passed at this interview. 
But I fell again under his fascination ; his magnetic 
presence lulled my faculties, and, alas, I must relate 
that this noctural intrusion was followed quickly by 
others ! 



104 CHARLOTTE BRONTE. 

He assumed his old ascendancy over me. The 
past became like an unpleasant dream in my mind, 
dimly remembered, but never distinctly recalled. 

Occasionally, however, a sharp doubt obtruded 
itself, and roused me for an instant. One evening I 
ventured to ask : 

" Richard, why are your visits so brief, and made 
only in the night ? " 

" Why ? " he repeated, as if startled by the sudden- 
ness of the question, then adding carelessly: "Be- 
cause you always have that deuced old fellow, Mon- 
sieur Pilot, running here. I am not very jealous, 
yet it would torment me to meet one who dares raise 
his thoughts to my Agnes. He wants to marry 
you. Do dismiss him ! " 

This conjecture proved true, and I was obliged to 
give a cold rebuff to the man who had befriended 
me. It is possible Richard Bristed did not care to be 
recognized by his brother's agent, but I did not think 
of this at that time. 



CHAPTER XI. 

After this affair happened Richard visited me. 
more openly, and my pupils, when by chance they 
met him, were charmed with the stranger. He was 
only known as " Mr. Richard." " Call me that, Ag- 
nes, I hate the name of Bristed. Introduce me to 
your friends as Mr. Richard," he said, and I had 
done so. 

About this time he explained satisfactorily, to my 
credulous mind, the cause of his sudden retreat from 



AGNES REEF. 105 

Bristed Hall, and gave me reason to believe that the 
statements his brother had made concerning him 
were untrue and evil in design. 

" My brother, as you have surely discovered, Agnes, 
is a cold, proud man, and as I was not his equal in 
wealth or position he selected an heiress, both old 
and disagreeable, whom he designed me to marry. 
Your youth and beauty he intended to appropriate 
to himself. I feared if I made him acquainted with 
my purpose to unite myself to you he would frus- 
trate all my wishes, and when I discovered that he 
knew of my plans, I determined to forestall him by 
making you my wife that very night. I intended to 
have gone through the form of marriage, which the 
next day could have been legalized, for I feared the 
influence of his wealth and position upon your un- 
sophisticated mind. 

" However, you refused to trust me, and I left your 
room maddened by anger and the fear of losing you. 

<*' I met my brother in the hall-way ; he said Her- 
bert was ill, and I accused him of trying to injure 
the boy that he might defraud me. Sharp words 
passed between us. I left him, and in blind haste 
mounted my horse, thinking I would ride over to 
N., a distance of some twenty miles, to get the 
clergyman of the parish, an intimate friend of mine, 
to drive with me to the Hall and perform the im- 
portant ceremony. 

" The ride I accomplished in a few hours, but I 
found my friend absent from home. The excite- 
ment and disappointment, added to the severe cold to 
which I was exposed, broke me down, and I was taken 



106 CHARLOTTE BRONTE. 

suddenly ill. "When I recovered, I returned to 
Bristed Hall only to find my priceless bird flown, 
and no clue to be had to her whereabouts. 

" As to the tale about Herbert, that is all a ruse ; 
he is not my son, and only distantly connected with 
either of us. He is heir to a considerable estate, 
and Mr. Bristed is managing so that upon Herbert's 
decease (and poor child, he cannot live long) the in- 
heritance will fall to his lot." 

Such was his version of the story, and as I loved 
him I believed it willingly. 



CHAPTER XII. 

In his gay society the winter passed quickly. 
"With the opening spring he departed — on business, 
as he said. I felt his loss, but as it was a busy 
time with me it did not affect me as it otherwise 
would have done. Many changes were being made 
in my seminary. I was obliged to employ work- 
men to add new dormitories to the great house, for 
pupils were crowding in from every point. 

The reputation of the school was growing ; I was 
immersed in business. ' Some months elapsed; I 
ceased to hear from Richard, almost to think of 
him, amid the activity of the spring term. 

" Circumstances," some say, " are the Devil," and 
I almost believe that saying. "While employed I was 
happy, my mind well balanced and energetic; but 
unfortunately for me, summer vacation drew near. 
It came finally; a sultry sun, parched earth, and 



AGNES BEEF. 107 

scorched verdure made life in the city undesirable. 
My pupils fled to the country and to their homes un- 
til the fall session, and I was left alone. Even my 
servants were absent, all save one. 

Shut up in the empty mansion alone with my own 
thoughts, I was growing morbidly lonesome. 

It was at this unpropitious moment that Richard 
Bristed returned. 



CHAPTER XIII. 

He arranged quiet strolls to the country — little 
excursions here and there with himself as my sole 
companion — and many sweet happy days of unsullied 
pleasure I passed in his society. 

One sultry morning, to my delight, he came in an 
open carriage, saying that the atmosphere was so 
heated he would drive me out of town to a charming 
little village with which he was familiar. 

The prospect of such a jaunt was to me indeed 
agreeable ; and as he liked to see me in becoming dress, 
I arrayed myself in white, placed a fillet of pale blue 
ribbon round my hair and a bouquet of blue forget- 
me-nots in the bosom of my dress, and thus adorned 
set forth, sitting by Richard's side. 

I was as happy as a young queen ; all the black 
suspicions which had darkened my horizon were ab- 
sorbed in the fierce heat of that summer morning. 
His beauty, his fascinating smile, his lively conversa- 
tion, filled me with rapture. 

Arrived at the village, we stopped at a small but 
pretty tavern and alighted. "While I entered the 



108 CHARLOTTE BRONTE. 

dwelling Richard drove his horses under shelter. 
He soon joined me, looking much disconcerted. 

" Agnes, my darling, what shall we do ? We cannot 
ride back to-night ; the carriage is out of order, and I 
fear the horse is injured by the heat and rapid dri- 
ving." 

" O Richard, I must return home to-night !" I an- 
swered decidedly. 

" Well, I will see what can be done, but we will 
rest awhile and take some refreshments." 

A delightful half hour passed while we were rega- 
ling ourselves with country fare and looking at the 
strange place from the window of the little inn. 
Then Richard proposed that we should walk out 
while waiting for repairs to our vehicle. Together 
we strolled through the quiet lanes and open com- 
mons till we came upon a pretty, unpretending church, 
half hidden in ivy and creeping vines. The door stood 
open. " Come," said he, " let us go in." I followed 
him in. To my surprise I discovered a clergyman in 
his robes at the altar. Richard whispered in my ear 
some words which I could not understand and their 
import I could only guess at, but his tender manner 
brought the hot blood to my face. 

"Agnes," he continued, speaking with quiet deter- 
mination; "you must be mine; everything is in readi- 
ness. We cannot return to-night ; Fate ordains it ! " 

It did appear to me that Fate, as he said, ordained 
the events which followed that country drive. All 
the love and sentiment of my nature was aroused ; but 
reason told my intoxicated senses that I must not act 
without forethought, so I shook my head to his pas- 



AGNES BEEF. 109 

sionate urgency and endeavored to withdraw. But 
my companion pressed me gently back into an open 
pew, and hastened past me up the aisle. 

A rapid conversation then took place between him- 
self and the clergyman, who, after casting his eyes in 
my direction, went to his desk and took up his prayer- 
book. 

Richard returned with quick steps to where I was 
sitting. 

" Come," said he, smiling ; " he is waiting." 

Startled and trembling, I made no answer save an 
effort to reach the door. 

" For heaven's sake, Agnes, do not make a scene ! 
Recover your usual good sense. Do you not see that 
it is best ? " whispered Richard, with earnestness al- 
most fierce. 

And so hurried, flushed and doubting, overcome 
with heat and excitement, I permitted myself to be 
led to the altar. 

The ceremony soon ended. As the clerk shut his 
book and we turned to depart, I could not realize 
that this abrupt, informal marriage was a reality. As 
I passed down the aisle, a white, fluttering, impal- 
pable, and yet clearly-defined form arose from one 
of the empty seats, and unobstructed by carved wood 
or heavy upholstery, passed out through frame and 
plaster ! The slight figure, the golden hair, I remem- 
bered too well — it was that of the ghost of Bris- 
ted Hall ! 

I clenched Richard's arm so that he muttered an 
oath, and said sharply, " My God, Agnes, what are you 
doing?" 

10 



110 CHARLOTTE BRONTE. 

" Did you not see that figure % It passed straight 
through the wall/' I whispered in affright. 

" Move on — none of your d— d nonsense, Agnes," 
said Richard, scowling ; then hastly adding, " Excuse 
me, love, you confuse me. My happiness makes me 
forget myself." 

My mind surged with conflicting emotions. I felt a 
secret joy in the knowledge that I was united to the 
man I loved. This romantic, half run-away match 
pleased the romance of my nature, and yet I was 
unable to resist the feeling that I had done wrong. 
A strange foreboding of evil intruded upon my joy. 

Richard that evening was gay almost to wildness. 
" O Agnes ! Agnes ! we have outwitted them, the 
fools ! They thought they had conquered me, but 
you are mine, and I have won ! " 

He talked so disconnectedly, I thought he had 
taken too much wine. Indeed, to this he owned. 

"I could drink flask after flask of it, I am so 
happy ! " he exclaimed. 

We were happy that night and drove home in the 
cool of the morning. 

It was arranged that our marriage should for the 
present be kept private, as Richard thought if it were 
known it might disorganize my school. 



AGNES BEEF. Ill 



CHAPTEIt XIV. 

"We had been wedded but two weeks when one 
morning Richard asked me to show him my deed 
of the property. 

" How strange, " said he, as he looked it over. 
" Do you know, Agnes, before I wedded you I might 
have married many a woman of wealth, but I wo aid 
not unite myself with a lady who would not honor 
me by giving me sole control of all her possessions. 

" Well, Richard, " answered I, laughing, " you can 
control mine if you like. It matters little to me who 
holds the deed, so long as my dominion over the 
young ladies is not invaded." 

" That is what I expected of your loving nature, 
Agnes, and yet I suppose you would hesitate to con- 
vey your property to me." 

" No ; why should I % " I exclaimed. " I will go 
with you to an attorney this moment, if you desire 
it." 

" Well, come, we shai see ; get your bonnet," said 
he gaily. 

I tied on my bonnet, and accompanied him down 
the street into a little dingy office in a narrow thor- 
oughfare. 

At the door, laying his hand upon my shoulder, 
he said jokingly : 

" Agnes, go back, I was only trying you ; I wanted 
to see if you meant what you said." 

" Of course I meant it, and I will not go back till 
it is done." 

"Well, well, you must have your own way, I 



112 CHARLOTTE BRONTE. 

see ! " and with a gay, exulting smile he led me into 
the office. 

I signed the paper giving to him the house and 
lands, and was glad when it was done, for I felt that 
it might atone for any suspicion or doubt of his good- 
ness which had crossed my mind, for he had made 
me very happy since our marriage. 

I returned to my school and its duties. In the in- 
terval between the recitations, I had time to reflect. 
I had acted impulsively, and perhaps unfairly. What 
right had I to give away a property given to me for 
an especial purpose % 

Had I done right ? That was the question which 
annoyed me — the question which constantly thrust 
itself before me during the live-long day. My sleep 
that night was disturbed. The form of the elder Mr. 
Bristed appeared in my dreams. He seemed to re- 
proach me by his looks, and when I endeavored to 
speak to him, vanished from my sight. 

Richard had left me after my signing the paper. 
He told me he was obliged to leave town on busi- 
ness, and I had no one to council with. My own 
thoughts startled me ; I became nervous, and finally 
quite ill. 



CHAPTER XV. 

At length, after two days of unrest and self-con- 
demnation, I quieted myself with the assurance that 
I would go to the Hall and see Mr. Bristed ; then 
also I could see dear Herbert, to whom my heart 
went often out with longing. His name was never 



AGNES BEEF. 113 

mentioned between Richard and myself. I avoided 
the- subject; a dread which I could not overcome for- 
bade me to speak of it. But now a strange, irrepres- 
sible desire to see the child filled my mind. 

Yielding to this intense feeling, I arranged my af- 
fairs, and taking a coach, set off early in the morning 
for the train which would convey me to Bristed Hall. 
To my astonishment I met Richard at the depot. 
Overwhelmed with surprise at the encounter, and 
ashamed to confess my intended journey, I made 
some petty excuse for being there, and returned home 
again. Richard handed me into the ^cab, but ex- 
cused himself from accompanying me as he had a 
friend awaiting him. 

That day, after luncheon, taking me aside he in- 
formed me that a noble lord had placed in his charge 
a lad who was partially idiotic and sole heir to an im- 
mense estate ; that it was neccessary he should have 
at his disposal a room in the upper part of the build- 
ing in which he could keep him from observation, as 
it had been discovered the sight of strangers increased 
the boy's malady, and perfect seclusion would be the 
only means of restoring him to reason. 

I immediately directed a servant to put in order 
one of the rooms in a remote portion of the dwelling ; 
this was done, and towards dusk Richard, who had 
left the house, returned in a handsome coach with the 
poor, helpless, deranged boy. From the window I 
saw them alight. A slight, tall figure, wrapped in a 
cloak, descended from the coach. This undoubtedly 
was the afflicted youth. He walked so feebly 1 
should have hastened to his assistance, but Rich- 
10* 



114 CHARLOTTE BRONTE. 

ard's command that I should not permit him to see 
strange faces withheld me. 

However, I stood in the partly opened door, 
hoping I should be called. As the muffled figure 
passed rne on the way up the staircase I vainly sought 
to catch a glimpse of the youth's face, but he turned 
neither to the right nor left. 

Richard, however, saw me and shook his head, 
indicating with an angry, peremptory gesture, that I 
should withdraw. 

For days I felt a strange curiosity about this youth, 
but as Richard gave my inquisitiveness no food, and 
conducted his attentions to his charge in an orderly, 
business-like manner, I dismissed the subject from my 
mind. 



CHAPTER XVI. 

Nothing new transpired the remainder of those 
autumn days. November was now close upon us. 
About this time I remarked a sudden falling off of 
my hitherto prosperous school. Determined to know 
the cause, I inquired of one of my assistants, in whom 
I confided, if she was aware of the cause of this 
decline. She hesitated to reply to my question, but 
when pressed for her opinion she informed me that 
my pupils were dissatisfied with rny relations with 
Mr. Richard, and also with his conduct respecting 
the youth who had been imprisoned on the upper 
floor. They asserted they had heard groans proceed- 
ing from the room he occupied, and feared to remain 
in a house where mystery and secrecy were rife. 



AGNES REEF. 115 

I was astonished and alarmed at this information. 
You, reader, will be surprised to learn that I was at 
that time more ignorant of events that transpired 
around me than my own pupils. .But I was not of a 
suspicious nature, and happy in my new life of love, 
the few weeks that had elapsed since my marriage 
passed as in a delicious dream. 

But now I was thoroughly aroused and ready to 
return to duty. 1 thanked the teacher for her infor- 
mation and then dismissed her, as I wished to be 
alone. 

When left to the quiet of my own thoughts I 
reflected how best to proceed in the matter. Richard 
was not at home, I could not question him, and he 
had the key of his ward's room with him. 

I finally concluded I would go to the door of this 
private room and listen if I could detect any unusual 
noise from within. 

With, trepidation I ascended the back staircase 
leading to the secluded apartment. 

Near the door I paused against the alcove of the 
great window that lighted the hall, and looked 
out. The sky was dull and leaden ; a scanty snow 
was falling, and the wind, blowing furiously, drove 
it hither and yon. I stood for some moments 
looking out upon the gloomy prospect so in accord- 
ance with my state of mind. Suddenly I caught a 
glimpse of Richard crossing the street. I started 
when I saw him and was about to retreat, when a 
thought arrested me. Why should I hurry away? 
Was I afraid of Richard ? Was he not the proper 
person to consult in my dilemma ? I would let him 
know that I desired to enter the room ! 



116 CHARLOTTE BBONTE. 

So thinking, I approached the door and tried it. 
It was locked, but at the sonnd of the turning knob 
a sad, dreary moan arose froni within — a cry of 
mingled fear and weakness. The sound of that 
moaning voice seemed familiar to my ear. What 
could it mean % 

As I stood thus in suspense, listening for further 
development of the mystery, I heard a step close 
beside me. I turned, and discovered Richard. His 
fair, handsome face scowled at me fiendishly; his 
countenance seemed transformed; his eyes gleamed 
like those of a panther. 

"What are you doing here?" said he, laying a 
heavy hand upon me and speaking through his set 
teeth. "Go down stairs!" and he pushed me from 
him violently. 

I suppose his physical power and angry mood 
awed me, for I forgot my determination to solve the 
mystery — forgot my own rights, and hurried precip- 
itately down the stairs. 



CHAPTER XYTI. 

With my mind filled with dreadful forebodings, 
I reached my own private chamber, entered it, and 
bolted the door, that I might consider, undisturbed, 
the best course of action to pursue under these fear- 
ful suspicions that haunted me. Hour after hour 
passed as I sat thus absorbed in thought which seemed 
to turn my very hair gray from its intensity. 

I heard Richard descend the stairs and go out into 



AGNES BEEF. 117 

the street. Not long after this the door-bell rang 
violently and the servant knocked at my door to say 
that a gentleman in the drawing-room wished to see 
me. Smoothing my hair and arranging my toilet, I 
obeyed the summons, but started back on discovering 
the stranger to be no other than Mr. Bristed. He 
pressed my hands and said : 

"Agnes, can I converse with you in private here a 
few moments 1 " 

My first surprise over, I answered, " Come with me ; 
we will not be disturbed here. " Withdrawing to a 
small room adjoining, he drew forward an ottoman 
and seating himself beside me, said : 

"Agnes, Herbert is missing; can you tell me 
where I can find him ? " 

" Herbert missing ! " said I with a shudder. 

"Yes," said he, "I have heard, Agnes, that a 
gentleman visits you whom I surmise to be my 
brother, and, if so, 1 thought perhaps you w T ould 
know through him of Herbert's place of hiding." 

" Has Herbert left you % " said I. u Tell me — what 
do you mean, Mr. Bristed % " 

" Yes," said he ; " some few weeks since, I left the 
Hall to visit an old friend. I expected to be absent 
a fortnight. "While I was gone Herbert disappeared, 
the servants knew not how nor where. At first, 
hoping to discover that he had strayed off of his own 
accord and would soon be found, they searched the 
country in every direction, but in vain. They were at 
last obliged to send me word of his disappearance. 
You can imagine my sensations on arriving at the Hall 
and finding the dear child's room vacant. I made 



118 CHARLOTTE BRONTE. 

inquiries in every quarter, sent couriers out in all 
parts of the neighboring country, but no trace of him 
could be found. 

"I at length thought of you, that you might have 
seen or heard of my brother. He is the one person 
likely to be concerned in the singular disappearance 
of Herbert." 

I trembled from head to foot. What could I say % 
Evidently he was not aware of my marriage with his 
brother. How should I act ? Richard might come 
in at any moment and discover himself. I recollect- 
ed him to have incidentally mentioned that the follow- 
ing day he had an engagement at the race-course 
with a friend ; I therefore said hurriedly : 

" Mr. Bristed, I have seen .Richard recently, but to- 
night can tell you nothing f urther. If you will call 
to-morrow morning at eleven, I will tell you all I 
know." 

He seized my hand, exclaiming, " Tell me to-night, 
Agnes, and set my mind at ease." 

My head seemed on fire — I groaned audibly. 

" I can tell you nothing of a certainty. It is all 
surmise, and my brain is distracted to-night. Give 
me till to-morrow." 

" I will, Agnes ; I feel that I can confide in you." 

" Now go," I replied. " My position is such that 
your presence here will only destroy the purpose of 
your visit." 

He clasped my hand in his and left me. 

The next morning before leaving for the race- 
course, while adjusting his neck-tie, Hi chard said : 

" I fear we shall lose our imbecile pupil up-stairs, 



AGNES BEEF. - 119 

Ag. I brought a doctor in to see him last night, and 
he says he cannot live long." 

I could not see his face, for he looked persistently 
away. 

" If he is ill, I must see him, Richard," I managed 
to reply. 

" Oh, no ! " said he ; "I thought you were foolishly 
scared to hear him groan yesterday, but if he does 
not get better I will send him home to his friends." 
This he said carelessly, as he walked out of the room 
humming a lively air. 

How coolly he talks about the lad! thought I, 
half ashamed of my suspicions. Perhaps I have 
wronged him. I have been too impetuous in my 
surmises. 



CHAPTER XVIII. 

The time drew near for his brother's arrival. Tie 
was prompt to the hour. 

" Well, Agnes," said he, " I have passed a sleepless 
night. I hope you will relieve my mind of its 
anxiety." 

" Mr. Bristed," said I, covering my eyes with my 
hand, for I could not endure his eager gaze, " I must 
first tell you I am married to your brother Richard." 

"Married to Richard ! " he exclaimed, starting up 
violently agitated ; and seizing my shoulder with ner- 
vous gripe he set me off from him at arm's length — 
" You married to Richard ! why, Agnes, that cannot be ; 
has he not a wife now living in France ? But be calm, 
child," said he, " be calm," patting me gently on the 



120 CHARLOTTE BRONTE. 

head ; " perhaps I am misinformed ; we will talk of this 
hereafter. Now about Herbert. Tell me what you 
know." 

This question recalled me. I then informed him 
of the idiotic pupil who had been received in the 
house about a fortnight since, and how my suspicions 
as to his identity had been aroused the day previous. 

He could scarcely wait till I had finished my ac- 
count. " Come, quick ! come ! show me the way to 
the room ! " 

I led him up the stairs in the direction of the sus- 
pected chamber. As we neared the door a low 
moan could be heard distinctly. 

"O my God, it is Herbert!" he exclaimed. 
" Quick, where is the key % " 

"I have no key — you must pry the lock open." 
No sooner said than done — he burst open the door 
and entered. I followed. Alas ! our surmises proved 
too true ! There upon the couch lay the wasted form 
of poor Herbert. 

As he recognized us his wan face lighted up with 
an angelic smile, and he endeavored to raise himself 
at our coming, but he was too weak, and his head 
sank nerveless back upon the pillow. 

Silently and hushed, as in the chamber of death, 
we stepped to his bedside. He held out his thin 
hand to his uncle, who clasped it between his own, 
and, kneeling by his couch, bowed his head and 
sobbed aloud. His first moments of bitter grief 
subsiding, he said to me, " Send for some wine." 
Then, stroking the child's fair forehead, he groaned, 
" O Herbert, Herbert, have I found you at last, sick 
and alone ! " 



AGNES BEEF. 121 

Herbert attempted to reply, but bis voice was 
weak and faint ; we could not distinguish bis words. 
A servant brought the wine, and I moistened his 
colorless lips with it. How I felt, it is useless to 
describe. Words would fail to express my terror. 

The rich, warm juice of the grape and the applica- 
tion of stimulants seemed to restore him to life. His 
first effort on recovering was to call me by name. I 
answered by bending over him and bathing his pale 
forehead. At this he smiled, pleased and happy. 

"Now, Herbert, my poor boy," said Mr. Eristed, 
" if it will not fatigue you too much to talk, tell us 
how you came here. Who brought you % Why did 
you leave Bristed Hall? " 

" Uncle Richard brought me," said he, heaving a 
melancholy sigh. "He came after you had gone, 
uncle, and told me that Agnes Reef was sick and 
going to die, and wanted to see me and you, and that 
if you were home you would let me go, because you 
loved her ; and I thought so too. He gave me this 
ring which Agnes sent so I would know it was her." 
And, saying this, he held up a thin, transparent 
hand, and there, indeed, upon it gleamed one of my 
rings, so loose that the wasted fingers could scarce 
retain it. 

"My ring! So Richard gave you that," said I, 
with scorn I could not conceal, even in the sick 
chamber. 

" Yes," he murmured, " and he told me he would 

bring me straight back before uncle got home, and 

he brought me here into this room, but Agnes was 

not here. I could not find her. Then he locked the 
11 



122 CHARLOTTE BRONTE. 

door and would not let me out, and I have been 
hungry and cold. And when I-cried, he would kick 
me, and that made me sick, I think. Do take me 
home, uncle, before he comes, and I will never go 
away again I " 



CHAPTER XIX. 

DuKnre- this recital Mr. Bristed and I exchanged 
glances of horror. We could not speak. "When it 
was finished, he said : 

"Agnes, order the coach. I must take him away 
from this place." 

I felt that the boy was too feeble to move, but I 
dared not suggest it. I too wanted him removed 
from the baneful influences of the house. We pro- 
posed to carry him down on the pallet, and thus 
convey him to the carriage. One hour or more 
elapsed before everything was in readiness. While 
we were moving him Richard appeared, unan- 
nounced. A wild, unearthly scream from Herbert 
first gave notice of his arrival. 

" O uncle ! Miss Reef ! save me ! He will beat me 
to death ! " 

His uncle endeavored to calm him with his 
assurance of protection, and, turning to Richard, 
in a voice husky with emotion said : 

"Look, this is your work! If there is a God 
ruling the universe, your punishment, though tardy, 
must be sure." 

" I see nothing strange about it," said Richard, 
with aa assumption of indifference which made 



AGNES REEF. 123 

his handsome face look to me at that moment 
like that of a Judas. " If he is my child, as you say, 
why should he not be here ? "Who has a better right 
to him than I ? The little imp professes to dislike 
me, but that is some of your teaching, and I will soon 
cure him of it." 

"You cannot have him, Richard. He must go 
with me." 

" I know my rights, and I will use them," he 
replied, excitedly. " Move that boy at your peril ; " 
and he clapped his hand upon his silver-mounted 
pocket-pistol. He had evidently been drinking. His 
day at the race-course had maddened him. He was 
in a dangerous mood to oppose. This Mr. Bristed 
evidently saw, as I did, for he beckoned me to go 
out for assistance. As I was moving toward the 
door for that purpose, Richard's eye lit upon me. 

" Ah, ha ! " shouted he, coming toward me. " So 
you are the one who has been prying into my affairs. 
It is you I must thank for this interference. Out of 
this room directly ! Get you gone ! " 

I should have obeyed, but a sound from Herbert's 
bed arrested me — a sound that awed me more than 
the angry voice of Richard ! I hurried to the bed- 
side. Mr. Rristed was there before me. I looked at 
the sinking boy. A stronger hand than his father's 
grasped him now. That hand was Death's ! 

No need now to remove the little sufferer from his 
couch to the carriage in waiting. He would be 
borne soon by the white-robed angels from the reach 
of us all ! 

Even Richard, whose cruel grasp he had eluded, 



124 CHARLOTTE BRONTE. 

» 

seemed awed as the little spirit burst from its tene- 
ment, and a transcendent smile settled on the thin, 
waxen face, and the white hands folded themselves 
across the breast with an air of unutterable peace. 



CHAPTER XX. 

Early the next morning Mr. Bristed accompanied 
the lifeless body of little Herbert to Bristed Hall. 
He begged me to go with him, but I refused his soli- 
citations. I had other duties before me, which I must 
perform. I should have been glad to have rid my- 
self from every one, but that could not be. Richard 
did not return, and I was alone; the days dragged 
heavily away. I felt that I stood on the brink of a 
yawning chasm from which I could turn neither 
to the right nor the left. The thought of remaining 
with Richard was abhorrent, and the prospect of 
leaving him and commencing life anew was also a 
dreadful alternative. 

What shall I do % — I reflected, as I went my weary 
way through the classes. Richard solved that ques- 
tion for me when he returned after an absence of 
three days. 

My pupils had just retired when a message came 
that he had returned and desired to see me in the 
library. "With a heavy heart I went to meet him. 
He was not alone. A tall, passionate-looking wo- 
man, with dark hair and restless eyes, sat beside him. 
She was richly appareled, and gazed at me with a 
haughty stare as I entered. 



AGNES REEF. 125 

Richard nodded to me a bare recognition and said, 
" [ have sent for you, as I wish you to inform your 
pupils that they must leave in the morning. I have 
other uses for this building." 

At this cool announcement I staggered. Good 
God ! would he undo me ? What plan had he now in 
view ? " Remove my pupils ! " I exclaimed. 

" Yes ; do I not speak clearly ? And as you have 
been plotting and scheming for some time against 
me, I would advise you to leave, also. Eristed Hall," 
said he sneeringly, "is likely to prove an agreeable 
shelter to you." 

11 1 leave ! " said I, now fairly awake to the danger. 
" "What do you mean, sir ? " 

" I mean," he replied with diabolical blandness, 
" that this lady is my wife, and will from this time 
take charge of this establishment." 

"Richard Bristed, you cannot, dare not make 
that assertion ! I am your wife, though I acknowl- 
edge it with shame and sorrow. He has misled 
you, madam," said I, turning to the lady. "You 
are mistaken if you suppose I shall abandon my 
rights." 

" Ha, ha ! " he laughed, " she knows all about you. 
You cannot enlighten her, so you had better hasten 
and pack your trunks." 

"I shall not leave, sir; I shall defend my position 
here. I am a woman, and you shall not sully my fair 
name," said I, maddened by his manner. "Your 
brother will help me — the law will aid me. Here I 
remain ! " 

" You will % " said he ; " we will see. This house is 
11* 



126 CHARLOTTE BLONTE. 

mine," and he drew out his pistol with which to 
frighten me. _ 

" Richard," said I, hoping to restore him to calm- 
ness, " pnt np that pistol. You cannot, dare not use it^' 

" Dare not ! " he exclaimed, coming up to me, his 
hot breath smelling of wine ; " I will show you if I 
dare not ! " 

I was alarmed as he suddenly cocked the weapon. 
What might he not do in his drunken excitement ? 

" She is a coward, Dick," said the lady. " Don't 
trouble yourself about her," and then turning to me 
and stamping her foot, " How dare you say you are 
his wife ! " she exclaimed. " Go out from here ! " 

I shook from head to foot, but did not leave. 

" Come, Dick, give me the pistol," said the lady ; 
" You don't know what you might do with it." 

" Don't meddle with me," said he, as she attempted 
to wrest it from his grasp. " Why does that girl 
stand glowering at me \ " 

"O Richard," I sobbed, "my heart is ready to 
burst ! Don't act so ; remember Herbert ! " 

"Remember Herbert ! " he muttered ; " I do remem- 
ber him. You killed him with your pranks, and now 
you would accuse me. Go, leave my house, or I will 
compel' you." 

I believe he would have fired upon me at that mo- 
ment, but the lady sprang forward and caught his 
arm. A slight struggle ensued, then followed a 
sharp report, and the pistol fell to the ground; a fear- 
ful shriek rent the air, and Richard fell heavily to 
the floor, covered with blood. I rushed to help him. 
He raised his glassy eyes to mine, and faintly mur- 
muring " J\iy God ! I am lost ! " expired. 



AGNES BEEF. 127 



CHAPTER XXI. 



The shock was too much for me. I was seized 
with fearful dizziness. The objects in the room 
became black before my eyes, and I fell to the floor 
beside the bleeding corpse, insensible. 

Convulsions, I was afterwards told, followed this 
swoon. A raging fever attacked me, and for weeks 
my life was despaired of. At length the crisis 
passed ; my youthful constitution conquered the dis- 
ease, and I Was. again restored to the world "in which 
I had experienced so much joy and so much misery. 

One morning the delicious feeling of returning 
consciousness revived me. Where was I ? The room 
looked familiar, yet strange. Surely I had seen that 
silken coverlet before ! The carved footboard of the 
bed on which I was lying was not new to my sight. 
My weak brain was busy with conjectures, when a 
woman approached, carrying a glass and spoon. It 
was Mary, the housekeeper of Bristed Hall. 

* Why, Mary, are you here ? " I asked in surprise. 

"Yes, Miss, but you must not talk. Take these 
drops. I am heartily glad you are better, Miss." 

A sense of rest and peace stole over me, followed 
by a few hours of natural sleep. 

On opening my eyes from this refreshing slumber, 
I found Mary still sitting near me. 

" Mary," said I, " you must tell me where I am ; 
everything here looks so natural, and yet as if I were 
in a dream." 

" You are not dreaming, Miss. You are in your 
own chamber in Bristed Hall." 



128 . CHARLOTTE BRONTE. 

Bristed Hall ! A warm gusli of gratitude pervaded 
my beiug. So I was not friendless ! I was cared for. 

" Where is Mr. Bristed % " I asked after a pause. 

" We have persuaded him to drive out, miss, as the 
doctor said you were out of danger. Anxiety for you 
and grief for Herbert's death have quite taken his 
strength away." 

"I must get up, Mary. You must help me to 
dress." 

"Oh no, miss!" she replied; "you are not strong 
enough yet." 

" I am quite strong. Besides, it will revive me ; 
I am weary of the bed, and need a change." 

She acquiesced in my wish, dressed me neatly, and 
smoothed my hair. 

"Now, take me down," I requested. "I wish to 
surprise Mr. Bristed." 

Of course she remonstrated, said I would bring on 
the fever again, and all that ; but as I persisted in 
my determination, she led me down the stairs. The 
fresh air invigorated me; I felt every minute in- 
creased power. At my request, she took me to Mr. 
Bristed's conservatory. The bright flowers, the sing- 
ing birds in their ornamented cages, and the adjoin- 
ing study with its well-filled shelves, all reminded 
me of the past. Tears came to my eyes as I recalled 
the bitter changes I had seen since leaving that sunny 
homel 



AGNES BEEF. - 120 



CHAPTER XXII. 

I had not been long in tlie conservatory when I 
heard the wheels of a carriage. Mr. Bristed had 
returned. He ascended the steps : I heard his voice 
in the hall. His first words were an inquiry after 
my welfare. He was told that I was better. Passing 
through his apartments, he entered the study. I 
could see him plainly from the windows of the con- 
servatory. He looked, I thought, thin and sad ; his 
hair had become sprinkled with gray since the time 
when I resided in his mansion. Turning to Mary, 
who was waiting there for me, he said : " I feel faint ; 
bring me a cup of tea." 

Mary left the room on her mission, and I stole 
from my hiding place. 

" Mr. Bristed," whispered I, coming softly up be- 
hind his chair. 

He started. " Whose voice is that ? Agnes, where 
are you ? " 

" Here, sir," I answered, as I tonched him lightly. 

He turned toward me, his face flushed with plea- 
sure, his eyes expectant. 

" You, Agnes — you, verily % How came you here ? 
I thought you were ill on your pillow. What pleas- 
ant trick is this you have been playing me?" Then 
taking both my hands in his and surveying me, his 
eyes the while beaming with soft pleasure, he said : 

" Oh, I am so happy that you are better. But you 
are wrong to come here ; you will make yourself ill 
again." 

I told him how I had awakened, and of my glad 



130 CHARLOTTE BRONTE. 

surprise in finding myself in my old chamber again, 
and how I had insisted on coming down to thank 
him for his kindness in brin^in^ me hither. 

" Don't thank me, Agnes ; for you I could do any- 
thing. This place shall always be your home. Some 
day, Agnes, you may learn to appreciate the worth 
of a heart that truly loves you." 

1 fell upon my knees before him. " O Mr. Bris- 
ked, I do appreciate!" I cried. "I do know that yon 
love me. Let me live for you. Let me by a life of 
devotion atone for the mistakes of the past ! " 

He lifted me up, and folded me to his breast. 



CHAPTER XXIH. 

A few weeks of balmy spring air and soft sunshine 
completely restored me to health. 

One day when strolling in company with Mr. 
Bristed through a path blooming with early hya- 
cinths and crocuses, I ventured to ask him about my 
school. 

" It is entirely broken up, Agnes. After the fear- 
ful tragedy that transpired within its walls, your 
pupils scattered like dust in the wind. I arrived the 
next morning after the death of Richard, uncon- 
scious of what had occurred in my absence, but 
intending to take you home with me. I found you, 
as I then thought, on your death-bed. I settled with 
your separate teachers, and closed the school. "With 
the French woman who claimed to be Richard's 



AGNES REEF, 131 

wife, and with, whom he had probably gone through 
the form of marriage, as with you, I made an ar- 
rangement satisfactory to her to sell the property 
and give her an equivalent for its value." 

" But what motive," I asked hesitatingly, " could 
Richard have had for his course?" 

" Motive ? The same that had actuated him through 
life. With you, Agnes, he would have lived proba- 
bly as he did with others, until his versatile heart 
demanded a change. Then, with your little estate 
in his hands and Herbert's property in his power, he 
would have deserted you for some new beauty. 

" But let the grave cover his mistakes and evils. I 
believe that a good God will not punish him too 
severely for propensities which he inherited." 

Once more I yielded to the charms of companion- 
ship and love. Severe trials had proved Mr. Bristed's 
worth, and when he again asked me to make the 
remnant of his life happy by my care and love — to 
become his wife, and share his home, and reign 
queen of his heart — I consented. When the June 
roses blossomed, we were married. The balmy air 
and opening buds spoke of a new life. They typi- 
fied my new life, truly. The glitter and gloss which 
had deceived me in youth would never beguile me 
more. I had learned that it was not the external 
man, but the internal that was worthy of love. 

The shadowy form of Alice never troubled me 
again. I believe reparation can be made beyond the 
tomb, and that in some far-off world the new-born 
spirit of Richard atones to Alice and Herbert for 
the wrong he did them in this. 



BARRETT BROWNING 



TO HER HUSBAND, 



Dead ! dead ! You call her dead ! 
You cannot see her in her glad surprise, 
Kissing 1 the tear-drops from your weeping eyes ; 
Moving about you through the ambient air, 
Smoothing the whitening ripples of your hair. 

Bead ! dead ! You call her dead ! 
You cannot see the flowers she daily twines 
In garlands for you, from immortal vines; 
The danger she averts you never know ; 
For her sweet care you only tears bestow. 

Dead ! dead ! You call her dead I 
Vainly you'll wait until the last trump sound ! 
Vainly your love entombed beneath the ground ! 
Vainly in kirk-yard raise your mournful wail ! 
Your loved is living in some sunnier vale. 

Dead ! dead ! You call her dead I 
You think her gone to her eternal rest, 
Like some strange bird forever left her nest ! 
Her sweet voice hush'd within the silent grave, 
While o'er her dust the weeping willows wave. 



Dead ! dead ! You call her dead ! 
And yet she lives, and loves ! Oh, wondrous truth ! 
In golden skies she breathes immortal youth ! 
Look upward \ where the roseate sunset beams, 
Her airy form amid the brightness gleams ! 

(132) 



TO HER HUSBAND. 133 

Dead ! dead ! You call her dead ! 
Oh, speak not thus ! her tender heart you grieve, 
And 'twixt her love and yours a barrier weave ! 
Call her by sweetest name, your voice she'll hear, 
And through the darkness like a star appear. 

Dead ! dead ! You call her dead ! 
Lift up your eyes ! she is no longer dead ! 
In your lone path the unseen angels tread ! 
And when your weary night of earth shall close, 
She'll lead you where eternal summer blows. 

12 




ARTEMUS WAED, 



IN AND OUT OF PURGATORY. 
ARTEMUS WARD'S LECTURES TO POOR, PERISHING HUMANITY. 

LECTER I. 

You'll remember, relatives and nabors, how I 
erost the Atlantic Ocean and never agin set foot on my 
native soil. I naterally thought my opportunities 
there, in the British Moosenm and with those Egyptian 
Carcusses dun np in rags, and remaining for the space 
of six days and six nights with a skeleton grinning at 
me and pointing its long skinless lingers in my face 
and looking in an awful licentious manner, showing its 
pivoted legs — I say I naterally thought such an un- 
heard-of experience would have prepared me for 
" the awful change " that follered. But it didn't. 

One nite, cummin' hum from the Mooseum, where 
I had been instructin' and elevatin' several thousand 
pussons, male and female, I innocently swallered a 
fog — swallered it hull. I'd bin swallerin on 'em ever 
since I'd bin in England, but that night 1 took in a big- 
ger one than ever, and it made me sick. 

I sent for the physicians that received the patronage 

of the noble lords and dooks and they made me 

siclcer; and finally for the physicain "to her most 

(134) 



IN AND OUT OF PURGATORY. 135 

gracious majisty the Queen of Great Britain," — but 
their aristocratic attention to me was of no use. As 
I lie tossing on what is known as " the bed of pain," 
I seed a big light coming through the dark towards 
me. Behind that light appeared a grim skeleton, 
just like the pictur of Death in the Alminack, walk- 
in' on tiptoe toward me ; and quicker than a wink 
he put out his long bony hand and touched me — 
firstly, in the pit of the stomach, so I couldn't holler ; 
nextly, he pressed his finger tips on my eye-balls, 
and they sunk right back into their sockets. 

I tried to shake him off, and to yell, but I couldn't ! 
Then 1 knew I was " dun fur. " Next came what a 
printer's devil would call a blank. 

I was skeered out of my seven senses, and when I 
cum to and tried to recolect myself, I was like the 
old woman in the song who fell asleep, and 

"By came a pedlar and his name was Stout 
And he cut her petticoats all round about ; 
He cut her petticoats up to her knees, 
Which made the old woman begin for to freeze." 

I was in the same predicament, for I was now 
only in my bare bones, and knew I was a rolecking 
old skeleton. 

Wall, it gin me an awful shock to find myself 
like a skull and cross-bones on a tombstone, sittin' 
on my own coffin ! 

Presently I was grappled by a big worm with a 
hundred legs. He then sent for his feller worms, 
and they licked me from skull to toe-jint. After I 
had stood the lickin' as long as I could (they tickled 



136 ARTEMUS WARD. 

•so), I concluded to run away, so I started on a full 
gallop, and arter I had run awhile, where should I 
fetch up but in the vicinity of Vic's Palace. I know'd 
by pussonal experience suthin' of the f eelin' manner 
with which the British public look upon the Royal 
Family, and a sensation of relief cum over my 
mind as I thought if I once entered their ground no 
one dared foller me. So I gin a spring and leaped 
right atop of the middle chimny. Owin' to private 
considerations, I did'nt mind the soot, but I clambered 
down, and there I was, to my amazement, rite in the 
private apartments of the Queen. She was sittin' 
at a table lookin' at a dogerotipe of Prince Albert ; 
and I walked straight up to her, not f eelin' a bit 
afeared, and making my manners, axed her if I 
didn't resemble the Prince? — rememberin' that the 
preacher had kindly said over my coffin that " there 
was no distinction in the grave." 

I thought that as I was a pooty gay image of Death, 
I might remind her of the " Prince Consort." 

She looked up kinder sideways as I spoke, but she 
must have bin a leetle hard o' hearing, for she shook 
her head. 

Then I thought I'd try her on another tack. So I 
placed my hands on my shakey knees, and bendin' 
over in this guise, so she could see me plainly, while 
my teeth rattled in my skull as I shook my head at 
her and growled : 

" Haint you afeared of me, Madam ? " With the 
pirsistent obstinacy of the feminine gender, she re- 
fused to notice me. So I thought she was kinder 
" set up on her pins," and I shouted louder : 



JOT AND OUT OF PURGATORY. 137 

" Victoria Brown ! Aint yon af eared of me ? Aint 
you af eared I'll tell Prince Albert of your doom's ?" 

At that she gin an awful yell, and flung herself 
down upon a yaller satin divan, trimed with gold, and 
slobbered it all over with tears. 

I know'd then I had a "mission to perform," and 
that my fleshless bones were not given me for useless 
pleasure, but as a " warnin' to my race." 

Arter this adventer I left the palace as I had en- 
tered it, " leavin' not a trace behind me." 

Since that affair, I have bin goin' about "doin' 
good, " frightnin' the wicked into fits, and f ollerin' in 
the steps of the parsen, and thus working my way 
out of Purgatory. 



LECTER II. 

AKTEMTJS WAKD.— OUT OF PUKGATOKY. 

Relatives and Nabobs, — Thinkin' you'll, like to 
know whether I'd bin roastin' in brimstone, along with 
Solomen and Lot's wife, and that you might feel 
consarned to know sumthin' about my further adven- 
ters, I'll continoo. 

One mornin' soon after this, havin' spent a rest- 
less nite, I was thinkin' what I had best do, when 1 
seed, cumin' rite out of a big marble edifice, a nice little 
woman about as raw-boned as myself. As she carried 
an open paper in her hand which was certified to by 
12* 



138 AMTEMU8 WARD 

two bishops and three clergeymen that she'd bin bap- 
tised and her sins washed away, 1 felt it would be 
safe for me to foller her, knowin' I had no such 
dockerment to admit me into the good graces of 
Abraham or Peter, or whatever porter might keep 
the gates of Paradise. 

She seemed kinder skeered and tremblin' like for 
a minit, not knowin' what to do ; then with a sudden 
start she spread herself out just like the eagel of 
Ameriky, and soared rite up into the sky with nothin' 
to histe her by. I felt in my heart to foller her, and 
spread out just as she did, keeping near her on the sly. 

As she went on she began to shine like a star, 
shootin' on through the azure heavens for all the 
world like a sky-rocket. 

That put me on my pluck, and I bust out just like 
a sky-rocket too. My blazers ! If it didn't make my 
head spin. 

When I collected my idees, I thought I'd look and 
see if I resembled a glow-worm behind, and there, 
by thunder, was a long stream of light, just like the 
tail of a comet ! I tell you, I felt happy ! She's 
regenerated me, thought I ; and I, too, am one of 
the "shining hosts"! And then directly, without 
any warnin' or noise of any kind, all around began 
to look about the color of a yaller sun-flower, and I 
began to scent a powerful smell of roses and violets. 

The female sank down in the golden air, and I 
kept cluss beside her, and as she kept droppin' she 
suddenly changed, like the old woman in the fairy- 
book, into a bouncin' girl, the very pictur of the 
goddess of liberty ! " 



IN AND OUT OF PURGATORY. 139 

Arter this, she turned and smiled on me. She 
looked just like alabaster cream ; the most dazzling- 
est creetur that ever startled the beholder ! 

I was took quite aback when she held out her little 
hand for mine ; I felt kinder delicate like that she 
should see my big jints. But howsomever, " here 
goes," said I, and I stuck out my bony fist, and, by 
Jupiter, it was kivered with flesh, jest as soft and 
delicate as Uncle Sam's babies ! ! ! 

I stood starin' from my hands to her about a minit, 
and then she bust out a-laughin', and I bust out 
a-laughin' too ! 

" How shaller you be !■" said she. 

" It's duced amoosin'," said I. 

" Who be you ? " said she. 

" Artemus Ward, the great lecterer on ' Women's 
Kites and Mormons,' " said I. 

At this she seemed mighty tickled. 

"I heerd you speak on those momentous subjects 
in Liverpool," said she. 

" And arter that when I read the affectin' account 
of your death in a strange land, I cried." 

" Cried ? " said I, " I'm much obleeged to you, but 
there's nothin' to cry for as I know." 

" So there be'nt," said she, puckerin' up her pretty 
little mouth ; " but tell me, now, is this reely you ? " 

" I don't know," said I, " whether its reely myself 
or not, for I haven't seed myself — how do I look ? " 

She naterally blushed and answered : 

" ' Ansom." 

That was too much for me. I took her round her 
waist and whispered — I wont tell you what. 



140 AJRTEMU8 WARD. 

She shook her head so that the ringlets fell down 
all over her neck, like the ashes from a tobaccy pipe, 
and in a mighty reprovin' manner said : 

" Artemns Ward, I am a poetess ! " 

( By Jupiter ! that was a stunner.) 

" Is it Mrs. Browning f " said I, ready to drop on 
my knees ( thinkin' of Robert). 

She shook her head agin, and moved off, and I 
f ollered, kinder ashamed of bein' so abrupt. Look- 
in' loftily at me, she said : 

" I must leave you." 

" Leave me ! " said I, " You cruel monster of beauty ! 
Leave when I am sealed to you ? " 

(That kinder frightened her — I learned suthin' 
from bein' among the Mormons.) 

" You may f oiler me," said she, while descendin' 
in the midst of a garden which opened rite before us. 
I did as she advised, and stepped rite down in a place 
where there was a mighty display of trees, flowers, 
and fountains, and a pretty big sprinklin' of people. 

Good Heavens ! thought I. Is this the New Jeru- 
salem ? and lookin' around timidly for the man with 
the key, fearin' I might be turned out, but seein' 
nothin' but common lookin' men and women, and no 
"flamin' cherubim," and creaters with wings stuck 
on their heads, and no bodies, such as I had naterally 
expected to find in such a place, I took courage and 
stept forward boldly. 

The people all commenced cryin' out as loud as 
they could : 

" Artemus Ward ! Artemus Ward ! " 

I felt kinder abashed at this, but advanced and 
called out, " Hear ! hear ! Friends, it's an amazin' 



IN AND OUT OF PURGATORY. 141 

mystery how you know'd my name." (I felt diffident 
at not havin' my lecter in my pocket, and not bein' 
accustomed to speakin' verbatim.) Howsumever, as 
they continooed to clap their hands and shout, I got 
together all the brass I used to' carry " down East," 
and jumped right atop of one of the roarin' fountains 
— the very biggest on 'em all. I surmised It was 
kinder dangerous, havin' always experienced a relig- 
ious awe of the " water of life," and not knowin' but 
what this might be it. "Here goes," said I; "faint 
heart never won fair lady," for rite at the foot was 
that bootiful poetess to whom allusion has been 
made, lookin' straight at me with all her eyes. 

I wanted to make a grand impression and let 'em 
know that I cum from a nation that could fight for 
the Constitution, and wasn't afeard of spirits. And 
as for the "gold and pearls," the "jasper and the 
sardonix," they needn't expect to snub me off with 
this, for I had been all through the gold and silver 
regions of Ameriky, and could tell as big a story as 
any on 'em. 

" The fact is, friends and nabors," said I, " it is one 
thing to read of a place, and another to see it. Now 
I must say, that geography and book of travels called 
the c Bible ' is suthin' like ' Gulliver's Travels,' rather 
loose in description ; and, for all I see around me, the 
grand nation of Ameriky can beat you all holler in 
wonders." 

Havin' thus spoken a good word for my country, 
I dismissed them, and hurried back to commence 
these lecters, which is only a beginnin' of what I 
intend to do for the Amerikan People. 



LADY BLESSINGTOK 



DISTINGUISHED WOMEN. 



It is remarkable to what a degree woman devel- 
ops her intellect in the spirit world. 

Freed from the cares of maternity, she seems like 
some young goddess fresh from the hand of Jupiter. 
All nerve, electricity, and motion — her thoughts 
sparkling and full of flavor, and light, and life, 
this new-born Eve of the celestial kingdom inspires 
the down-trodden Eve of earth, and kindles to a 
blaze the whole male population of the spiritual 
globe. 

Prominent among the women of the times who 
have emigrated to these shores from populous America, 
stands Margaret Fuller — a tall and impressive blonde 
— a woman of strong bias, and resolute as a lion when 
she has set foot upon a project. Earnest, passionate, 
and brilliant in conversation, she wields a powerful 
influence over many minds of a peculiar order ; and 
through the few mediums whom she selects to repre- 
sent her characteristics, she displays a calmness and 
coolness of reasoning and an excellence of judgment 
such as few are able to exhibit thus second 

handed. 

(142) 



DISTINGUISHED WOMEN. 143 

She has, through the exercise of her genius, erected 
a beautiful villa upon a southern island, wherein she 
has displayed her poetic taste to advantage. There, in 
the midst of a luxuriant garden, she resides with her 
beautiful Angelo, a child of graceful form who was 
washed ashore from the sad wreck years ago, but 
now approaching the years of manhood, and in his 
looks the very personification of a young Mercury, 
blending the fire and passion of a Southern nature 
with the zeal and activity of the Northern. 

Count Ossoli and his noble wife tear themselves 
away from the pleasures of this delightful state of 
existence and devote their sacred energies to the 
enfranchisement of Italy. 

No Roman patriot, neither Garibaldi nor any of 
his compeers, equals them in their efforts for the 
freedom of that sunny land. 

Madame Ossoli is sanguine of success. 

Defeat she considers merely the plough and har- 
row for the ripe harvest of victory which will follow. 

From her own eloquent lips I have heard her 
address to the Italian soldiers who, defeated and 
killed, marched to the spirit land. 

She told them how she, in the midst of her new- 
born joy, in sight of her own native land, fought the 
fierce battle of the briny waves, and felt as she sat 
dying on the sinking wreck, that all she had striven 
for was in vain; how she had found that defeat, 
that engulping billow, had proved in the end a vic- 
tory, and had placed her where she could watch over 
the destiny of Italia, her adopted country, and work 
for its regeneration, and fight for its liberty, as she 



144 LADY BLESSINGTON. 

could not have done had she been more successful in 
her plans on earth. 

Another American woman, of less note, but also a 
reformer, is Eliza Farnham. She is not so emotional, 
has less sentiment and considerable originality, and is 
honest in her opinions and determined in her efforts 
to uplift her sex and ameliorate their condition. 

She -wields a powerful influence over a certain 
clique in the spirit world and on earth, and therefore 
deserves to be noticed among the women of the times. 
In person she is of dark complexion, with black hair 
and eyes, and strongly-marked brows, possessing 
much vivacity and caustic wit. 

She is matron of a large Institution or Circulorium, 
erected for the use of those spirits who make a practice 
of communicating with the inhabitants of earth. They 
there meet to converse upon the various means which 
they employ for transmitting intelligence, and to 
relate their successes and defeats with the various 
trance and clairvoyant mediums through whom they 
operate. There congregate those lecturers and ora- 
tors who discourse through the organisms of numer- 
ous trance and inspirational mediums on earth. There 
also convene physicians and "medicine men "who 
control the large number of healing mediums who ex- 
ercise their power throughout the United States and 
Europe. There, also, gather the prophets and seers, 
who, with vision clearer than that of ordinary spirits, 
warn mankind of danger and impress individuals to 
pursue certain courses of action, to go or come, to un- 
dertake and prosecute great designs for the seeming 
weal or woe of humanity. 



DISTINGUISHED WOMEN. 145 

She presides over this establishment with dignity 
and intelligence, delivers a lecture once or twice a 
week, and is noted for her belief in the superiority of 
woman over the masculine sex, while she seeks the 
association of men of intellect in preference! 
(rather a paradox, I think !). 

Another woman of mark, whose name perhaps 
should have stood first on my list, as she stands first 
in rank among those who have proven by their pro- 
ductions the intellectual power of woman, is Eliza- 
beth Barrett Browning, a woman all soul and mind, 
whose very eyes seem thinking orbs, so much she 
looks, tells, and acts through them : a little waif of 
a lady is she, with tresses of dark wavy hair, and 
looking like some prophetic bird — a song — a voice, 
— a Pythoness — a very Oracle! She can project 
herself as few spirits can. One may feel the pecu- 
liar power — the perfume, so to speak — of her spirit 
for miles and miles. 

Yet this lady appears to me shy and reserved. 
She can feel with humanity, but she cannot assimilate 
with it. She could die for the race like Christ, but 
like him she must have a few chosen followers. 

The world at large knows her not. This is an 
anomaly, but true of her as of other great reformers. 

This lady, feeling so much for humanity, yet dwell- 
ing so apart from them, lives, as a poetess should live, 
in one of the pleasantest nooks in the upper world, a 
mansion which is of itself a divine poem — the off- 
spring of a mind no less than Michael Angelo — the 
very palace he occupied when, some centuries ago, he 
first entered the spirit world. 
13 



146 LADY BLESSINGTOJST. 

From this loft}" aviary she still sends forth her 
delicious strains. The children of earth hear them in 
fainter notes through young poets who catch her in- 
spiration. What she is doing for women in the 
world she inhabits will be felt ere long in both the 
continents of Europe and America. 

Another remarkable person in this coterie of illus- 
trious women must be mentioned — Charlotte Bronte 
— a lady who feels the true dignity and intellect of 
her sex with a force akin to manliness. Modest and 
retiring, she would yet pick up the gauntlet like any 
knight against the man who should say of a work of 
literary merit, " that it could never have been penned 
by a woman." 

Soft and delicate, yet stroug and full of heroism, 
she represents woman, quicker to perceive the right 
than man, and capable of undergoing greater perils 
in executing her duty. 

Charlotte Bronte is a slight, brown-haired girl, 
with an eye full of clairvoyant power. With her 
father, sisters, and poor reprobate of a brother, all 
united like a cluster-diamond, she lives in a home 
which they have selected, remarkable for its wild and 
picturesque beauty. 

As a family they are like the ancient Scots, 
clannish — not in a vulgar acceptation of the term, but 
for the reason that they are kindred souls. The 
torch of genius flames in every member of that family, 
but Charlotte is the mover, the inspirer of them all. 
She possesses a greater degree of concentration and 
energy, and is more chivalrous and venturesome. 
She is exceedingly interested in woman, and devotes 



BISTINGTJISEE WOMEN. 147 

daily a portion of her time to visiting earth and sug- 
gesting ideas and thoughts to those whom she can in- 
fluence. 

In her new home she draws around her a circle of 
chosen spirits, among whom may be mentioned 
Thackeray (who esteems her as about the finest speci- 
men of womanhood he has seen), Prince Albert, 
Scott, Hawthorne, the German Goethe, De Quincy, 
and others. 

Few writers of romance have done more than she 
towards raising her sex above the frivolities of dress 
and fortune, and placing them where they shine con- 
spicuous for their intellect and noble affections. 

Bold and unsparing in analyzing woman's heart in 
its uncontaminated simplicity as well as in its subtlety, 
she lighted a torch in behalf of her sex which flamed 
throughout the literary world, startling and dazzling 
the beholder — a light which will never be quenched. 

Charlotte Bronte was on earth what is now known 
as a medium. Her belief in the supernatural she 
evinced in her works. If she had not indicated so 
much intellect, the critics would have termed her 
superstitious. They have inferred that it was the 
loneliness and sadness of her life which caused her to 
imagine she saw her beloved dead and heard unearth- 
ly voices calling her. But she has since told me that 
those mysterious influences were not morbid fancies, 
but realities. Being thus endowed clairvoyantly, and 
not only receptive but able to impart that which she 
receives, she exerts at the present moment an influence 
in the world of letters little dreamed of on earth. 

I may here, without infringing on the require- 



148 LADY BLESS1N0T0K 

ments of good taste, allude to the tale she has dictated 
through this medium. That it is a story of powerful 
interest, all who read it will confess. 

To many minds it will prove that her power is un- 
abated, but every reader will perceive the character- 
istics of the Bronte family in the tale — characteristics 
which cannot be imitated — which are individualized 
in that family, and breathe of the lone moor on 
which they spent their earth life, one of sad struggle 
of genius against circumstance and destiny. 




PROFESSOR OLMSTEAD. 



THE LOCALITY OF THE SPIRIT WORLD, AND ITS MAGNETIC 
RELATIONS TO THIS. 



How near is the spirit world to earth ? is a ques- 
tion often put by the inquiring mind. Some suppose 
it lies contiguous, just in the suburbs ; others imagine 
the spirit world to be within the atmosphere of this 
earth ; others again set it afar off in a given locality. 

The last theory is correct, and the spirit world is 
really several billions of miles from earth ; yet the 
suppositions are true (in a certain sense), for the 
inhabitants of the spirit world are migratory, and 
there are many millions of them living within the 
earth's atmosphere, drawn thither on errands of pleas- 
ure and duty. 

But there is a spiritual earth revolving around its 
spiritual sun, just as this earth revolves around its 
sun. 

It has shape and form like this planet, and is 
indeed the spiritual body of the earth. 

It existed before the creation of man on this globe, 
and was ready for the reception of "the soul or spirit of 
the first human being who perished on earth. 

As a spirit's body is constructed from the spiritual 
13* (149) 



150 PROFESSOR OLMSTEAD. 

emanations of man, so the spiritual globe is formed 
of the magnetic emanations of the earth. The refined 
gases which were thrown off during the process of the 
formation of the material globe which man now in- 
habits, form- the basis of the spirit earth. 

Each planet in the vast, universe has its correspon- 
dent spirit world, and invisible magnetic rays are 
constantly exchanging between the spirit planet and 
its earth. 

These magnetic currents or rays, like waves of 
silver light, constantly transmit thoughts from 'the 
spirit world to this. 

All spirit is matter. 

The spirit globe, being primarily composed of gases, 
in revolving around its central sun ultimates in a 
substance which is similar to the soil of your earth. 

The same system which marks the development 
of the material world also is displayed in the devel- 
opment of the spiritual world. 

Order is God. No spirit world can exist without 
form, neither can it exist without motion. Motion 
produces the spheroid, and the rotation of the spheroid 
produces atmosphere and diversity of surface; all 
these variations characterize the spirit globe. 

When these facts are carefully reflected upon and 
understood, the majesty of the Creator assumes a 
magnitude most stupendous. 

The astronomer searching through space for undis- 
covered planets and suns, has failed to fix his telescope 
upon these spiritual worlds, but the day will come 
when science will discover their existence. 

The spirit world is not an arid desert. As I have 



LOCALITY OF THE SPIRIT WORLD. 151 

said, it has soil. It is not a thin, vaporish flat, without 
depth or density ; and its circumference exceeds that 
of the earth. 

One of the component elements of its soil is mag- 
netism. Its vegetation is of rapid growth and beau- 
tiful beyond anything that your planet can display. 

As the atmosphere of the spirit world is not so 
dense as yours, and as the rays of the spiritual sun 
are not obliged to penetrate through so much cloud 
and vapor, the colors of all objects are sparkling and 
beautiful in variety and tone. 

The specific gravity of the spirit upon his globe is 
not so great, comparatively, as that of man in the 
natural world. He can rise in his native air with 
little difficulty, and can dart with unerring accuracy 
upon the magnetic current flowing from the spirit 
world to the one he once inhabited. 

The investigator in searching for the spirit world 
has but to direct his attention to the north star and 
his eye will embrace, unwittingly, the locality of that 
world. The north pole is the great gate which leads 
to it direct. 

The aurora borealis or Northern lights is an electric 
current which flows from that world to earth, and is 
sent in through the great gate. The scintillations of 
these rays are caught up by the clouds and vapors 
and are repeated in many portions of the globe, 
and faint rays from them are seen even in this 
temperate climate. 



ADAH ISAACS MENKEN. 



HOLD ME NOT. 

Up to the zenith mount ! 

Far into space — 
Ah ! all thy tears I count, 

Sad, loving face. 



Clasp not my garments so, 

Love of my soul ; 
Clinging, you drag me low, 

Where tortures roll. 



Soil not my angel wing; 

Keep not from rest ; 
How can I upward spring, 

Clasped to thy breast ? 



Hold me not, lover — friend- — 

Earth I would fly ; 
Passion and torture end 

In the Iblest sky ! 

Life brought but woe to me, 

Even thy kiss 
Gave me but agony — 

Remorse with bliss ! 

(152) 



HOLD ME NOT. 



153 



Let go thy earthly hold- 
Fain would I fly ; 

Voices with love untold 
Call from on high. 



Farewell — the dregs are drank 

Of life's sad cup ; 
It proved hut poison rank ; 

Life's lease is up ! 






1ST. P. "WILLIS. 



OFF-HAND SKETCHES. 



Since my friend Morris joined me, we've been as 
busy as Wall street brokers in a gold panic — eyes 
and ears, and every sense filled with the novel sights 
and sounds that greet us on every side in this most 
delightful, charming, incomparably beautiful sum- 
mer land. 

Whom have we not seen, from Napoleon down to 
the last suicide? 

I have a memorandum which would reach from 
here to Idlewild, filled with the names of notables 
and celebrities, whom I have met in the short space 
of a year. 

We do matters quickly here, among the celestials. 
I used to think life sped fast in the great cities of Lon- 
don, Paris, and New York, but we live faster here. 
With every means of travelling which human inge- 
nuity can invent — flying machines, balloons, the will 
and the magnet — we fairly outdo thought and light, 
which you consider emblems of rapidity on earth. 

Morris and I made a point of visiting Byron, Moore, 

Hunt, Scott, and that clique. You must bear in 

mind that we do not all live on one point of space 

(154) 



OFF-HAND SKETCHES. 155 

here; among so many thousand million, billion, tril- 
lion, quadrillion, sextillion, and countless illions, there 
must be some persons who are further apart than 
Morris and I, who are side by side ! 

It is a peculiarity which you Yankees seldom think 
of, that Englishmen can't endure to live in America. 
"Well, that peculiarity is just as active after they " shuf- 
fle off the mortal coil." They must have their little 
England, even in the spirit world. 

So I telegraphed to that quarter of the celestial 
planet that two strangers from the great emporium of 
intellect, and civilization, New York City, were about 
to visit that locality. We so arranged our journey 
as to arrive about a day after the dispatch had reached 
them. 

It was proposed that we should meet at the beauti- 
ful villa belonging to the Countess of Blessington. 

1 can assure you that on arriving there it was with 
a slightly palpitating heart I ascended the noble steps 
of her residence. The Countess met us graciously, 
and by her vivacity and charming candor dispelled 
the feeling of modest diffidence as to our merits, nat- 
urally awakened by the thought of being presented 
to those illustrious persons who so long held sway 
over English literature. 

Ere we were aware, we were ushered into the midst 
of a hilarious group of authors, who welcomed us in 
a most cordial manner. 

I did not need to have them introduced to me by 
name, as I recognized each readily from likenesses I 
had seen on earth. 

Lord Byron's countenance is much handsomer and 



156 Jr. P. WILLIS. 

more spiritualized in expression than any portrait of 
him extant. I noticed that the deformity of his foot, 
which had been a severe affliction to him on earth, 
was no longer apparent. 

Scott looked as good and as jovial as ever, and 
Tom Moore, the very pink of perfection and elegance. 

As for the Conntess, when I last saw her on earth I 
thought her incomparable. But whether it was 
through the cosmetic influences of the spirit air, or 
from other causes, she had now become bewitchingly 
beautiful. 

After we had conversed awhile on general topics 
and I had answered their questions in regard to, the 
changes which had occurred in certain terrestrial lo- 
calities with which they were familiar, the Countess 
invited us out to survey the landscape from her bal- 
cony. 

The view from this point was extremely romantic. 
Just beyond the spacious park extended a lovely lake, 
whose waters were of a rich golden-green color. Upon 
its limpid bosom several gondolas floated, and gay 
parties waved their handkerchiefs to us from beneath 
the silken hangings as they passed. 

" Countess," said I, after my eye had surveyed the 
fine landscape and noble residence, " I am but a wan- 
dering Bohemian, and you must excuse my audacity 
if I ask how it is possible that in this " world of 
shadows" you have surrounded yourself by so much 
that is beautiful and substantial? You could not 
bring your title and your lands with you from earth. 
Your jewels and costly raiment you must have left be- 
hind ; then whence comes all this wealth and luxury ? 



OFF-HAND SKETCHES. 157 

The Countess smiled. "Ah," said she, roguishly, 
" you did not study your Bible lesson well if you did 
not learn that you could " lay up treasures in heaven. 
Why, all the time I was living on earth I had Mends 
working for me — admirers who had been drawing 
interest from my youthful talent and had laid it up 
to my account. We go upon the tithe system here, 
and ' render unto Caesar the things that are Ceesar's.' " 

She told me that works of interest which are pub- 
lished on earth are reproduced in the spirit world 
and the author credited with a tithe of what accrues 
from them. 

Byron, Scott, and Moore have also been doing 
double duty while on earth, and have been recom- 
pensed for their industry in the spirit world. 

Byron, she privately informed me, had been united 
to the Mary of his early love, and under her sweet 
womanly influence had lost much of the misanthropy 
which had annoyed his friends in this life. 

As my stay was short, I had only opportunity to 
converse with these men of mark on general topics. 

On the whole, we spent a very interesting morning, 
and, after partaking of refreshments, we left, having 
inquired after Count D 'Orsay, whom we learned was 
then on a trip to earth. Bidding adieu to^ the 
Countess and her friends, we started for the cele- 
brated islaud called the " Golden Nest," which lies 
in a south-westerly direction from the Countess's villa. 

After having travelled some hours in our own dili- 
gence (?'. <?., driven through the air by our own will), 
moving along quite leisurely that we might survey 
the country beneath us, we reached a group of beau- 
14 



158 JST. R WILLIS. 

tiful lakes, reminding me strongly in size and appear- 
ance of lakes Erie, Huron, Michigan, and Superior, 
the famed lakes of my own native clime. 

In the centre of the largest of these lakes lay the 
island we were seeking. We descended like skilful 
aeronauts into the centre of a group of happy chil- 
dren, who were playing like little fairies amid the 
flowers blooming profusely everywhere. 

Singling out two of the prettiest, we addressed 
them. 

Directly a merry band gathered about us, answering 
our questions intelligently and skipping before us to 
lead the way to the "Golden Nest," as the superb 
structure was called in which these little soul-birds 
were sheltered. 

Everywhere, as we advanced, our eyes lit upon pretty 
bands of children; some swinging in the tree-boughs 
like birds, some waltzing in the air, others sitting upon 
the green, chattering and singing, filling the surround- 
ing air with their melody. 

Certainly it was a most enlivening sight to witness 
their enjoyment. After having amused ourselves for 
a while with their gambols, we turned our steps 
toward the Home. 

The building was oval in form, and composed of a 
golden fleecy incrustation from which it derived it, 
name. Within, the " ISTest " was like Aladdin's palace. 

Innumerable compartments, hung with silks and 
tissues of tender and harmonious colors, and deco- 
rated with birds' plumage of varied hues, arrested the 
eye. These spacious alcoves were each furnished 
with a domed skylight, adorned with hanging tassels 



OFF-HAND SKETCHES. 159 

and glittering ornaments. Ladies were busy in 
nearly all of these compartments in instructing chil- 
dren under their care. 

In some that I entered I was shown new-born 
babes not an hour old, torn from their mothers' bosoms 
on earth, and lying upon fleecy pillows, attended by 
lovely women, who looked the angels which they 
were. 

One of these gay baby-nests in which I lingered 
was decorated with peculiar tastefulness, and seemed 
like a perfect aviary. Singular birds of splendid 
plumage were perched on various projections about 
the spacious apartment, warbling away like silver 
bells. 

The lady of this chamber was engaged in teaching 
a little girl of some two summers to mount to the 
skylight by her will. 

This lady, I was informed, was the noble lady 
R , so famed for her charity on earth. 

She was very gracious and communicative, and told 
me that some children exercised their ability to rise 
in air more readily than others ; that the difficulties 
their instructor had to guard against were the fickle, 
versatile nature of their wills, and their inability for 
continuous thought. Their wayward minds could 
not be directed long at one point. They would wan- 
der from the path like the poor little Babes in the 
Wood, and on their way to special" destinations, 
would change their thoughts, unharness their will, 
and come suddenly down, sometimes in lonely and 
unfrequented spots. 

Owing to this dereliction, it was found difficult to 



160 m p. WILLIS. 

make frequent excursions to earth with them. Those 
attracted to their terrestrial homes were attended by 
ladies who had them in charge, and who would kindly 
accompany them, for one or two weeks, to visit their 
friends upon earth. 

I told her that I had lost a child some years ago, 
and had thought till recently to find it still an infant. 

Many cases of this kind, she said, had occurred 
under her observation. People did not view the matter 
rationally. Ladies had called at the " Golden Nest " 
to inquire for children that had left earth twenty or 
thirty years ago, and it was painful to witness the dis- 
tress they exhibited when told that their children 
were grown men and women. 

One lady had called there some three days since, 
and claimed as her own a little child, an infant 
about two months old, who had been brought from 
earth three weeks previous, while the child she had 
lost had been in the spirit world seventeen years ! 

But no amount of argument would convince her 
that her child had grown up, and that the infant she 
selected was not her own. 

She was finally permitted to take the child away, 
as they knew it would be properly cared for. Many 
of the children while young were thus adopted. 

" It appears marvellous," remarked this noble lad}^, 
" that any parent should wish to cramp the body and 
soul of his child by keeping it in a state of infancy, 
when, if it had remained on earth, it would neces- 
sarily have arrived at years of maturity. 

"Nature does not suspend her operations in trans- 
planting from earth to heaven ! The soul is formed 



OFF-HAND SKETCHES. 161 

for expansion, and surely the spirit world is not the 
place to suppress nnf oldment ! " 

As I listened to her intelligent conversation, I 
blushed to be reminded of my own error in supposing 
my own darling, who had reached the spirit world so 
long before, would greet me with the prattling talk of 
babyhood ! 

Pleased with our visit and the information we 
had received, we bade adieu to Lady ~R. and the 
" Golden Nest," and pursued our flight in another 
direction. 

" Do let us next find out," said I to Morris, " what 
they do here with criminals; there must be many 
a wicked reprobate who arrives here from earth fresh 
f roon murders and villanies of all sorts." 

As I spoke, two grave-looking gentlemen, whom I 
took to be either doctors or judges, crossed the path 
before us, and I proposed to make these inquiries of 
them. 

Who should they prove to be but William Penn 
and the omnipresent Benjamin Franklin ! 

"Yes, yes," said Penn, in reply to our questions 
shaking his head deprecatingly ; " 'tis too true ; we are 
obliged to have what Swedenborg calls " our hells," 
for you send your criminals from earth so hardened 
that we are compelled to keep them under guard. 
Come with us and we'll show you how we treat them." 

We were very glad of this opportune meeting, and 
followed with alacrity. 

Presently, leaving the beautiful country far behind 
us, we came upon a desert waste, and as I am ex- 
tremely sensitive to conditions, I felt somewhat like a 
14* 



162 m P. WILLIS. 

criminal in passing through it. Having got safely 
over, however, there burst upon our sight a scene of 
surpassing beauty ; as far as the eye could reach ex- 
tended a most highly-cultivated district of country. 

Groves of fruit resembling the oranges and pine- 
apples of our tropics, noble trees like the palm, the 
fig, and date, were to be seen in every quarter, 
rearing their boughs against the summer sky. The 
air was laden with fragrance from tree and vine. 

Great bunches of purple grapes like the fabled 
fruit of Canaan in the Old Testament, a single bunch 
of which required two men to bear it, drooped heavily 
from twining vines, while from many a bough and 
twig swung golden, crimson, and cream-colored fruit, 
which fairly made one's mouth water. 

It was a picture rich enough in color for a Claude 
or Turner. 

"This is delicious," said I to Penn. "Do tell us 
to what fairy prince this magnificent land belongs ! " 

" We will show you the fairy prince himself, very 
soon," said he. "Do you see the tip of his castle 
yonder % " 

I looked, and as we moved swiftly in the direction 
indicated an unexpected spectacle loomed in sight. 
It was a building so delicate and perfect in its struc- 
ture that it appeared like a vision. 

Pillars and arches, dome and architrave, were 
wrought in a style exquisitely beautiful ; the material 
of which it was composed seemed like polished sea- 
shells, so transparent that you could see through it 
the forms of the inmates. 

" This," said William Penn, " is one of our prisons. 
Let us enter." 



OFF-HAND SKETCHES. 163 

"We followed in amazement, and were ushered into 
a hall hung with paintings rich in design and color, 
while distributed around in various alcoves were cases 
containing books and articles of curious workmanship, 
of which I had not yet learned the use. 

This hall formed the court within the main build- 
ing. 

From where we stood we could see hundreds of 
men in white suits moving about. Some seemed en- 
gaged in conversation, others in sportive games, and 
others in various employments. 

"You do not mean to tell us that these men are 
prisoners," said I. 

" Yes ; they have passed for years on earth a life of 
evil, yet all the beauty you behold here is the work 
of their hands. Idleness is the mother of crime. "We 
teach them to become industrious, and surround them 
with beauty to develop their love of harmony. 

"Ignorance and poverty are supposed to be the 
principal causes of evil on earth. But many fearful 
offences have been committed in high places from 
thwarted love and ambition. We have many of 
that character in this prison, but they are young. 
This is intended as a place to educate and restrain men 
who would return to earth and incite impressible be- 
ings to evil. 

" The material of which this building is composed, 
though seemingly so fragile, is a non-conductor of 
thought, and while detained within it the inmates 
gradually free themselves from their old influences 
and disorderly desires. 

" Cultivating the fruits of the earth calls into action 



164 JST. P. WILLIS. 

only tlieir most harmonious organs. A great mistake 
made by the legislators of earth is in employing 
criminals in stone-cutting, or placing them in gangs, 
as they do on the Continent, to work the rugged road. 

" Employment of this kind awakens the very pro- 
pensities which should be subdued. The composing, 
softening influences induced by tilling the soil would 
go far toward converting your evil men into good 
citizens." 

I was struck with the truthfulness of his suggestions, 
and put them down in my note-book for the benefit 
of humanity, and now hand them over to my readers 
for consideration. 

After leaving this place we paid a visit to Edgar A. 
Poe, whose unfortunate life on earth you are all fa- 
miliar with. His brilliant imagination we found as 
active as of old. He welcomed us enthusiastically, 
and eagerly led us into a small theatre which he had 
constructed and filled with most marvellous creations 
from his own fancy. He inherited from his father 
and mother, who were actors, a love for dramatic ef- 
fect, and in theatrical impersonations he found some 
vent for his exuberant imagination. 

" Stand here," said he, placing us near the entrance ; 
" I have something curious to show you." He then 
suspended upon the stage a curtain, whose peculiarity 
was its pure, soft blue color, like an Italian sky. 

" Watch," said he, pointing his uplifted finger to the 
hanging. Presently appeared upon it figures like 
shadows on a phantasmagoria. 

One form was that of a female sitting upon a low 
chair, apparently reading a book. 



OFF-HAND SKETCHES. 165 

"That," said Poe, "is Miss D. I can control her 
and will her to reflect her figure upon the cnrtain ; 
and that man is T. L. Harris. It is my own inven- 
tion," said he ; " I studied it out and applied chemicals 
to my canvas till it produced this sensitive surface. 
All I have to do is to send my thoughts to them, and 
will them to appear, and there they are. Coleridge 
has a similar curtain, and some few others. But it 
requires a peculiar spirit brain to magnetize the sub- 
ject sufficiently." He offered to show me in the same 
manner any friend of mine with whom he could come 
in rapport. 

This proposition delighted Morris and I, and we 
spent an agreeable evening in seeing certain of our 
friends on earth thus revealed. 

Some were busy eating at the time, the gourmands ! 
Others, more studious, were poring over books and 
papers, and one, whose name I shall not mention, was 
reproduced in the very act of making love ! 

The dear old faces awakened such sad memories, 
and the occupations in which they were engaged were 
in the main so ludicrous, that we were held between 
tears and laughter till after midnight. But that'is an 
Irish bull — for you must know that we have no night 
in the spirit world. Our diurnal revolutions are so 
rapid, and the atmosphere so magnetically luminous, 
that it is never dark here. But, however, according 
to earth's parlance, it was midnight before we got 
through. 

I will now bid adieu to my friends and readers un- 
til we meet again. 



MARGARET FULLER. 



CITY OF SPRING GARDEN. 



I am at present domiciled with my excellent friend 
Abraham Lincoln, in the beantifnl city of Spring 
Garden. This place contains between sixty and sev- 
enty thousand inhabitants, a majority of whom are 
engaged in literary and artistic pursuits. It might 
vie with ancient Athens for the wealth of mind which 
is concentrated within its precincts. It is not com- 
pactly built, the city covering about thrice the surface 
of- ground that would be occupied by one on earth of 
the same number of inhabitants. The streets are 
handsome, the pavements being covered with a gay 
enamel which is formed by dampening a certain yel- 
low powder, which, when hardened, shines like amber. 
They are laid out in circles, surrounding a large park 
of several acres, which forms the centre of the city. 
This park is embellished with trees and flowering 
plants of every description, and does not differ ma- 
terially from the extensive parks to be found on 
earth, except in its management. 

Booths are erected at the various gates, which are 
supplied with fruits and confections free to all who 
present a ticket to the keeper. These tickets are 

(160) 



CITY OF SPRING OAJIBEN. 107 

furnished by the city authorities to those who desire 
them. This class is composed chiefly of children, and 
of grown persons who are incompetent to supply by 
their labor their own wants. Here they can walk 
through the pleasant grounds, rock themselves in 
swings, which are numerous, and, when weary with 
exercise, their appetites stimulated by the refreshing 
air, which circulates through its hills and dales as 
freely as in the open country, they can apply for re- 
freshments at any one of the booths or tables within 
the park. A very delicious drink manufactured from 
the exudence of a flower not known on earth may 
here be procured. The grounds are provided with 
various other apparatus for amusement and pleasure, 
among which are elegantly-formed sleds on galvanic 
runners, which glide over the ground with swiftness 
most exhilarating to the senses. Air carriages are 
also furnished, and, in short, nothing is wanting for 
the pleasure and entertainment of the visitors who 
throng daily the extensive avenues. 

Forming an outer circle to the park is the main 
thoroughfare of the city. The streets, as 1 have said, 
are laid out in graduated circles which increase in 
circumference as they recede from the centre. The 
outermost circle is bordered by trees, which form a 
natural wall. This city might be called the circle of 
palaces, from the numerous magnificent edifices which 
adorn it at every point. 

The buildings are of a light, graceful style of archi- 
tecture, adapted to the climate and the out-door life 
which the people generally lead. 

The street facing the park is devoted to the display 



168 MARGARET FULLER. 

of commodities and creations of the spirit world and 
its inhabitants. 

In this section are exposed to view beantiful fabrics, 
finer than the web of a spider, glistening like threads 
of sunbeam and ornamented with most exquisite 
floral designs taken from nature. Some of these 
fabrics emblemize the blue heaven glittering with 
silver stars ; others the clouds, with sunlight shim- 
mering through them. 

Some have shadowy designs of birds and curious 
animals strown over a ground of amber or violet. 
These beautiful devices are photographed on the ma- 
terial ; or, as the transcendentalist would say, they are 
projected there by the will. 

Electricity with us is so potent an agent that it is 
used for this purpose, transferring the image and 
stamping it there. 

These fabrics are more delicate and gossamer-like 
than any with which you are familiar on earth. 

Exquisite materials are not only indulged in by 
ladies, but male angels robe themselves in attire more 
fanciful and gorgeous than they have been accus- 
tomed to wear in their first life ; except, indeed, the 
Orientals, who more nearly approach us Celestials in 
that particular. 

I will state for the benefit of ladies that we have 
no millinery establishments, as the females wear 
simply their own beautiful hair, which they adorn 
with flowers and a peculiar lace, as thin as a breath. 
The hah*, owing to electrical conditions, is usually 
abundant and of beautiful texture, forming the chief 
ornament of the head. 



CITY OF SPRING GARDEN. 169 

On the street I have described are also many 
studios for artists. These attelUers are very orna- 
mental in appearance, being placed in the centre of 
a large court. They are of various fanciful shapes, 
according to the design of the artist, generally open 
on the sides, with a dome supported by pillars, and 
resembling in form an ancient temple. Within, they 
are hung with rich draperies, which are adjusted at 
pleasure. The open dome admits the light and may 
be covered by a screen when necessary. 

These studios are all on the ground floor, and 
usually with airy reception rooms attached, opening 
upon a court gay with flowers, birds, and fountains, 
making it a pleasant retreat for the artist and his 

friends. As my friend II gaily suggests, these 

accessible studios compensate the artist for the attics 
which he occupied on earth. 

The art of painting is here carried to greater per- 
fection than it ever has been on earth. 

As the development of the intellect in the material 
world depends upon the subservience of matter to 
mind, so in the spirit world, the same principle is the 
great motor power ; for there we have matter (that 
is, spirit matter), and this we work into forms of 
beauty as. we desire. 

Speaking of art, I must digress to allude to the fete 
which we held in our park in honor of three quite 
eminent artists, who have recently arrived in the 
spirit world and taken up their abode in this city. 

As they were all new-comers, and- but slightly ac- 
quainted with our manners and customs, we gave this 
celebration to surprise them, and also as a token of 
15 



170 MARGARET FULLER. 

our appreciation of their efforts to spiritualize human- 
ity ; for art we regard as one of onr most spiritual- 
izing agencies. 

In the centre of the park, I had forgotten to state, 
we have a temple erected, somewhat resembling 
those of ancient Greece, and which is for the use of 
orators and public singers. This temple was beauti- 
fully decorated with garlands and paintings by spirit 
artists. Within it were seated the visitors and a few 
friends, and without were stationed musicians, with 
curious instruments of melody, such as are unknown 
to earth. 

Various ingenious machines for locomotion and 
amusement attracted general attention. Another 
source of interest were the graceful and picturesque 
groups of children moving in the air. At intervals, 
one of the most fascinating of their number would 
descend with offerings of fruits and flowers for our 
guests. The amazement expressed by our visitors, 
as these lovely children would suddenly sweep down 
through the air like graceful birds of radiant plum- 
age was delightful for us older inhabitants to wit- 
ness. 

This city contains several institutions of learning 
which are accessible to all ; not only those can become 
inhabitants of this city who have a taste for the 
beauties and refinements of life, but needy aspirants 
from earth may be introduced by them into these 
establishments. 

Previous to entering the spirit world I had sup- 
posed everything here would be free, but I have 
found here, as on earth, that nothing can be attained 






CITY OF SPUING GARDEN. 171 

but by exertion, and that the great diversity of talent 
and of gifts necessarily enforces a system of ex- 
change. 

All men are not alike inventive in the spirit world. 
The inventor, by his fertile brain, constructs an article 
which the majority desire to possess, and for that 
article they give him an equivalent. It may be a 
picture or it may be a song. 

Here the artisan is not hampered as on earth ; his 
time — the mere time employed in mechanical labor — 
is of short duration. Our facilities for creating are so 
immensely superior to those of earth that but a brief 
period is required for producing a result. The re- 
maining time is devoted mainly to the development 
of the mind, to amusement, and to scientific research. 

I stated in the beginning of my letter that I was 
visiting the home of Abraham Lincoln. He is re- 
siding here with some members of his family, and 
appears very happy and contented. The son for 
whose loss he grieved amid the honors of the White 
House, is now his friend and companion. 

Matters of state, as I learn from conversation with 
him, occupy his mind but little; but he is deeply 
interested in humanity, and is anxious to elevate and 
harmonize the whole human family. 

His influence for good is powerful, and he exerts it 
constantly. 

Theodore Parker and Hawthorne both reside in 
this city. Parker, as I have been told, when he first 
came here, decided to devote himself to the cultiva- 
tion of land ; but he has drifted again into the ros- 
trum, and twice a week you may see the fair maidens 



172 MARGARET FULLER. 

and gallant swains of Spring Garden wending their 
way to his beautiful little home and garden in the 
suburbs, where, amid the flowers, he descants to them, 
in his eloquent way, on life and the attributes of the 
human soul, and also upon his earth experiences. 

So you perceive he exemplifies by his own actions 
the wise saying, " Once a prophet, always a prophet." 
His original mind cannot keep silent, and his thoughts 
find readiest utterance in speech. 

Hawthorne is living here with his beautiful daugh- 
ter, who devotes her attention to art. 

His mind is as active as ever. He informs me that 
many of the mysteries that seemed inexplicable to 
him while on earth are now cleared up. 

I have spoken of the noble buildings of this city, 
surrounded by spacious gardens and beautified by 
trees and flowers, fountains and singing birds ; but I 
have not alluded to the way in which property is 
held, and the reader will naturally inquire if these 
handsome dwellings are owned by their occupants. 

They are not, but are simply loaned to them. 
Spirits congenial to those at present residing here 
lived in them ages agone. 

It is true, each individual taste may alter and em- 
bellish the buildings and surroundings, but these 
improvements belong to the city and not to the indi- 
viduals. The titles are vested in the community, 
and its members can vote, as in the case of Abra- 
ham Lincoln, in reference to any individual coming 
among them. 

There are three daily papers issued in the city, and 
only three. One is especially devoted to reporting 



CITY OF 8PBING GARDEN. 173 

i 

iiews from earth, — revolutions that transpire, changes 
in state and national politics, recent accidents which 
have thrown individuals suddenly into the spirit 
world, and to recording the names, as far as possible, 
of persons who have deceased from earth. 

Disasters that occur on sea and land are imme- 
diately telegraphed to the newspapers in Spring Gar- 
den and published for the use of the community. 

It may be interesting to the curious to know that 
in cases like the sinking of a vessel, where fifty or a 
hundred individuals are suddenly ushered into the 
spirit world, delegates ,, are sent out from this and 
other cities to meet the sufferers and offer them the 
hospitalities of the city, in accordance with their in- 
dividual meri^and degrees of development. 

Our method of printing newspapers differs ma- 
terially from that in vogue on earth. 

Our papers might be termed photo-telegrams. A 
much less space is occupied by a communication of 
a given length than the same would require in your 
papers. We have a system of short-hand, understood 
by all, similar to that used by your telegraphic op- 
erator. 

We have various places of public amusement, two 
fine theatres which are devoted to dramas originat- 
ing with the inhabitants of our world, and another 
appropriated to the representation of dramas familiar 
to earth. Our places of amusement are of large ca- 
pacity, hence but few are needed ; and the people of 
this city being congenial in their natures, as many 
as possible like to assemble in one place. 

The several actors who have been famed on earth 
15* 



174 MARGAHET FULLER. 

appear at the theatres in Spring Garden. Garrick, 
Kean, Kemble, Booth, Vandenhoff, Cooke, Mac- 
ready, Rachel, and Mrs. Siddons, visit us from time 
to time. 

Among our distinguished actors are many who on 
earth were clergymen, politicians, and of other occu- 
pations.* 

* I am told that the Eev. Newland Maffit is at present a dis- 
tinguished actor in the spirit world. Ed. 




GILBERT STUART. 



ART CONVERSATION. 



People are fools in religion, and worship as divine 
the most stupid monstrosities ever conceived of! 
Only tell the masses that St. Luke, St. John, or Mary 
Magdalen was the author of some absurdity, which, 
if you or I had originated, they would scoff at, and 
they will clasp their hands in mute admiration over 
that miracle of art ! 

So it seems to me to be with Spiritualists. Draw- 
ings devoid of taste, hard, and out of proportion, are 
received by them with acclamations of joy, and 
credited, if they are figures, to Raphael, and if land- 
scapes, to Claude Lorraine or some other great master 
of art. 

Now I, for one, wish people would use their brains, 
and not be so easily gulled. 

It is truly wonderful that a spirit can make a per- 
son draw a straight line who never could draw any 
but a crooked one. It partakes something of the 
miraculous, I admit ; and that spirits should produce 
likenesses, and representations of flowers, scrolls, 
and ornamental designs, and unearthly landscapes, 
through mediums whose powers of representation and 
artistic talents have never been developed, is indeed 

marvellous ! but that these drawings should be called 

(175) 



176 GILBERT STUART. 

works of art, and looked upon as the genuine offspring 
of those immortal painters, is ridiculous, and a thing 
to be deprecated by every intelligent spirit and Spirit- 
ualist, either here or in any other world ! 

Why, God Almighty himself could not take a 
raw, unschooled, undisciplined hand, and produce a 
work of art ! 

If a medium is content with what he has done, if 
he does not comprehend the faults of his work, if his 
eye and brain are not educated artistically, — then 
he must stand like a machine working in a groove. 

Neither Phidias nor any of his descendants could 
inspire a high production through such means ! 

Now I do wish that educated artists would seek to 
be controlled by ns spirits; or that those mediums 
whom we do influence would go to school, and submit 
to the drudgery that is necessary to give them skill 
in design and execution. 

Then could we hope to represent something of the 
progress of art in the spirit world; and would be 
enabled to depict marvels of landscapes, and the 
seraphic beaut} 7 of the human face with its grace and 
perfection of form, as it meets us in this artistic land. 

You ask if we have galleries of art here. I should 
think so : art-love is immortal ! You do not suppose 
that Benjamin "West, Washington Allston, Henry 
Inman, Copely, Stuart, and we Americans who loved 
our art, would be satisfied with laying down the brush, 
and would have contented ourselves with singing and 
playing on cymbals constantly for the hundred years 
or so that we've been here? Now, where there is a 
will there is a way, and having the will, we have 



ART CONVERSATION. 177 

found the way to exercise the genius which God. 
gave us. 

Speaking of music, the gift is cultivated here to 
an extent that would set the dilettanti of earth wild 
with ecstacy ! 

Music, Poetry, Art, Oratory, and Scientific Re- 
search, form the principal occupations of the beings in 
this immortal world of ours, and language is incapable 
of conveying an idea of the perfection which our 
noble and glorious faculties have attained. 

Art is about to undergo a revolution. At present 
too much attention is given to the literal render- 
ing of a fact, and imagination, which is merely a 
faculty for reaching the immaterial, is checked ; but 
ere long painters will turn their attention to represent- 
ing scenes in spirit life, and the inspiration which 
attended the old masters when they gave wings to 
their fancy and cut loose from identical imitation, 
will return. 

Let the camera and the photograph reproduce the 
exact outline and minutiae, but let the artist paint 
with the pencil of imagination and inspiration ! Only 
permit imagination to have root in the material 
world. As no man can become a good angel who has 
not developed his physical nature in harmony with 
his spiritual, so neither painter nor medium can rep- 
resent the artistic beauties of the natural world, nor 
of the spirit world, unless he has had a good physical' 
training. It is only through the physical that the 
imagination can express itself with beauty and cor- 
rectness. Truth is beauty, and is always proportionate ; 
the light equalizing the dark, precisely as in the per- 



178 GILBERT STUART. 

fection of art a mass of shadow is balanced by a pro- 
portion of light. ^ 

One of the most agreeable places of res orthere- 
abonts is the artists' rendezvous — a building "larger 
than St. Peter's at Home, magnificent in structure, 
and filled with wonderful paintings. 

Here artists and authors of all nations are to be 
found. You can step in any morning and have a 
chat with Lawrence, Reynolds, Lessing, Delaroche 
Ilazlitt, Coleridge, Charles Lamb, Beethoven, Men- 
delssohn, Rossini, Willis, Irving, Anthon, Sigourney, 
Osgood, Booth, Kemble, Kean, Cooper, Yandenhoff, 
Palmerston, Pitt, O'Connel, Lamartine, Napoleon, 
Margaret Fuller, Charlotte Bronte, Lady Blessington, 
and others of note, who have made themselves illus- 
trious during the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. 
People of congenial tastes and aspirations can readily 
obtain admittance, and all freely engage in conver- 
sation on topics connected with art and literature. 

A large garden is attached to the building, filled 
with every manner of fruit-tree, and is accessible to 
all ; any poor devil of an artist can go there and some 
bewitching Llouri will present him with all the de- 
licious condiments which his taste or fancy can 
demand. 

In these matters the inhabitants of earth need to 
take a lesson from us. 

I prophesy that America will be a pioneer in 
these reformations, and will, in some Central Park, 
erect a building similar to this, where aspiring artists 
may receive food for the soul and the body, and where 
artistic minds can meet and interchange ideas. 



EDWARD EVERETT. 



GOVERNMENT. 



The Christianized world supposes that the form of 
government now existing in the heavenly system is 
that of a monarchy ; that God is the supreme ruler 
of the whole universe, embracing not only the little 
planet Earth, but the countless starry worlds and in- 
visible systems that roll through space. But more 
directly in its imagination does it place him as the 
sole monarch and kingly ruler of the spirit world. 
It seats him in fancy upon a gorgeous throne, mate- 
rial in every aspect of its magnificence ; a throne of 
gold and jewels, as described by that Mil tonic poet, 
St. John, in his "Revelations." 

This is the prevailing faith of Christendom ; a faith 
which to the majority seems knowledge as positive as 
the fact that Victoria rules the British people, and 
sits upon the English throne. 

Yet this is the conception of a people fond of bar- 
baric pomp and splendor. A conception unsupported 
by reason and at variance with fact. 

Nearer to the truth was the old Greek nation ; a 
nation which embodied the intellect, the wisdom, and 
the refinement of the present age. 

That nation, in its belief in the government of the 
spiritual universe, was wholly Polytheistic, believing 

(179) 



180 EDWARD EVERETT. 

in many gods, and, as I have said, approached nearer 
the idea of the form of government as existing in the 
spirit world, for it is a Republic of Gods. 

It is a law of the universe that all vast bodies 
must be divided and subdivided into smaller ones. 
Every system is a constellation and every constella- 
tion is a congeries. 

In accordance with this law, the universal world 
of spirit is broken up, is divided and subdivided. 

In these divisions and subdivisions forms of gov- 
ernment ensue, differing slightly one from another, 
according to the progressive development of the peo- 
ple ; and an unlimited, monarchy is not known in the 
spirit world. 

There are some clinging to their old habits, associa- 
tions, and education, who would fain raise the repre- 
sentatives of royalty on earth to the same positions in 
the spirit world when they become residents there. 
But the effort, when made, cannot be sustained. The 
one-man power is incompatible with spiritual laws 
and spiritual justice. 

In a world where the external trappings are torn 
away and the internal nature of man is exposed to 
observation, the prerogatives of earthly kings have 
but little power. 

The republican form of government is destined to 
overthrow all the monarchies of earth. As the world 
progresses and knowledge becomes universal, indi- 
viduals will be able to govern themselves. 

It has been only through ignorance and supersti- 
tion, and the limited knowledge of the masses, that 
the kings and emperors of earth have been enabled 



GOVERNMENT. 181. 

to sway their jewelled sceptres over the necks of the 
people. But their reign is drawing to a close ; their 
glories have culminated ; and the day is rapidly ap- 
proaching when earth will be governed even as the 
heavens above are governed. As in the world of 
nature, " the same chance happens alike to all," and 
every child in time may become a man and every infant 
a father, and the experience of one becomes the experi- 
ence of all, so in the government of the spirit world, 
every man can rise and become for a space of .time 
the patriarchal dictator of a republic. 

The prevailing form of our republic differs from 
that of the American republic in many particulars. 
Our term of office is of shorter duration than with 
you. Our directors while in office make friendly 
excursions to other republics. Matters of state with 
us are not so weighty or complicated as with you, 
nor are encroachments and reprisals so common. 
We are not compelled to sustain such vast armies 
and navies, involving the necessity of directing and 
superintending them. 

As a rule, people who have entered the second 
stage of existence desire a change. They desire to 
live with more simplicity and freedom, and are eager 
to begin their new life with nobler aspirations. 
Therefore, they assimilate with comparative ease 
with our form of government. 

Our directors are our fathers. The nearest ap- 
proach to our system is the government of the 
Mormons in Utah. Pardon me, if, in making this 
statement, I offend any delicate sensibility. I allude 
not to their creed, but to their mode of public ad- 
ministration. IS 



182 EDWARD EVERETT. 

As I have stated, the inhabitants of the spirit 
world are divided and subdivided into associations, 
or bodies, which in your world would be termed na- 
tions and states. For example, the nation to which I 
belong is represented by the American people. The 
nationalities of earth present different traits and char- 
acteristics which set them apart, though in a general 
aspect they present one whole. Even as in the orni- 
thological world different species of birds repre- 
sent the feathered race, and though differing in 
many particulars and forming separate varieties, yet 
assimilate as a whole, so nations migrating to the 
spirit world form separate nationalities. And, as I 
have stated, some of them, educated in the belief of 
thesdivine right of kings, choose a form of rule nearer 
approaching the monarchial than the republican. 
Among such often arises a Happleon, a man of pow- 
erful intellect, a mind to grasp all circumstances, 
and a will to direct, who succeeds in placing him- 
self in a position which he retains for years. 

But as the hereditary right of kings cannot exist 
in the spirit world, the emperor or dictator, is chosen 
by the people, as was the custom of the ancient Ro- 
mans. 

Intercourse of nations with us is not bounded by 
the obstacles that exist on earth. Prominent ideas 
prevailing among the most intelligent masses of spir- 
its become the views of the whole. This your own 
world exemplifies. As the means of communication 
become more facile, as the various arts of locomo- 
tion obliterate distance, the remote and barbarous 
nations, brought into proximity with the civilized, 



GOVERNMENT. 183 

assume their habits, adopt their modes of action, and 
follow their form of government. 

I can safely predict for you a similar result. In 
the spirit world those nations once most tenacious 
of kingly rights and of the majesty of the throne, lay 
quietly down their regal crowns, and assume the un- 
ostentatious cap of the republic. So will all the 
nations of earth follow their spiritual leaders and 
hurl out from the round globe the crumbling thrones 
and sceptres of kings and emperors and the tottering 
papal chair of Rome, down, down, into the vast 
tomb of antiquity ! 




mm 




EREDERIKA BREMER. 



FLIGHT TO MY STARRY HOME. 

I was in Stockholm when the ambassador, who is 
sent by the all- wise Father to pilot his children to the 
unknown land of roses, called for me, and I was 
obliged to part with the body which, though homely 
and unattractive, like the dear, good " family roof," * 
had rendered me service in many a stormy day. 

The feeling I experienced in taking my departure 
was like that of going out into a pitiless storm, and 
it was followed by an intense prickling sensation, 
similar to that familiarly known as the " foot asleep." 
This, I afterwards understood, was occasioned by the 
electrical current passing through my spirit as it 
assumed shape upon emerging from its old frame. 

Some twenty minutes perhaps elapsed after the 
breath leaving the body before I became perfectly 
conscious in my new form. Upon recovering the 
use of my senses, my whole attention was drawn 
from myself to the friends who had gathered in the 
room which had so recently been my sick chamber. 

As I watched them combing the hair and attiring 
the white, stiff figure that lay so solemnly stretched 
upon the couch, my emotions were indescribable. 

* Swedish term for umbrella. 

(184) 



FLIGHT TO MY STARRY ROME. 185 

I endeavored to speak, but my voice gave but a faint 
sound, which they evidently did not hear — as a spirit, 
I attracted no attention. This caused me deep grief, 
for I desired them all to see me still living. 

My sad emotions were presently dispelled by the 
sound of most mellifluous music bursting upon my 
senses; and as I turned my eyes to discover the 
source from whence it proceeded, I beheld, resur- 
rected before me, a group of dear old friends, whose 
bodies were already dust and ashes in the Swedish 
grave-yards, and in the cemeteries of the old and 
new worlds. A hearty burst of joy escaped from my 
lips as I recognized them. We laughed, cried, shook 
hands, and kissed first on one cheek and then on- the 
other, with the same enthusiasm and naturalness we 
would have shown had we been inhabitants of dear 
old mother Earth. 

"Come, Frederika! Dear Frederika! don't stay 
gazing on that old body ! Leave friends who cannot 
talk with you and come with us ! '■' they clamored 
on all sides. Their voices were like a full orchestra ; 
besides, some had instruments of music, upon which 
they improvised little songs to my honor. I was 
fairly bewildered. Presently they formed a circle 
about me and commenced whirling rapidly around 
and around. I felt as in a hammock swayed by the 
wind ; a dreamy lethargy stole over me, and I gradu- 
ally became unconscious ; and thus, I am told, they 
bore me through the earth's atmosphere, out in the 
stellar spaces, to a new world — a world not of the 
earth, earthy, but the New Jerusalem which I had so 
often pictured to my fancy. 
16* 



186 FREDERIKA BREMER 

A soft, pleasant breeze blowing directly upon my 
face, restored rne to consciousness. I opened my 
eyes, and, lo! I was reclining upon a divan in a 
grea,t pavilion. The friends whom I had previously 
recognized were around me, some making magnetic 
passes over me, others engaged in preparations for 
my comfort. Upon seeing me awaken, several 
friends approached with flowers and fruits. The 
term " flowers," though a beautiful appellation, gives 
but a faint idea of these marvellous creations. 

My attention was particularly attracted to one 
whose corolla was of deep violet striped with gold, 
having long silvery filaments spreading out from the 
cup in lines of light like the luminous trail of a 
comet. 

In a state of delicious languor, I watched the 
varied wonders before me. The pavilion, w T hich was 
of silver lace or filagree woven in the most exquisite 
patterns, was a hundred or more feet in circumfer- 
ence, and adorned with open arches and columns on 
its several sides. These columns and arches were of 
coral and gold, which contrasted with the silver net- 
work, and the blossoms and foliage of curious plants 
and vines which graced the interior, forming alto- 
gether a structure of singular elegance and beauty. 

^Numberless forms like the fabled peris and gods 
of mythology glided in and out of these arches, and 
approached me with offerings of welcome. One 
blooming Venetian maiden presented me with a crys- 
tal containing a golden liquid, which she said was the 
elixir of the poets and painters of her nation. The 
name she gave it w T as " The Poet's Fancy," and she in- 



FLIGHT TO MY STARRY HOME. 187 

formed me that it was distilled from a plant which 
fed upon or absorbed the emanations which the ac- 
tive mentalities of these poetic beings exhaled. 

This information was quite new to me, and gave 
me pleasure, as it accorded with my ideas of corres- 
pondence. So I sipped the "Poet's Fancy," and 
imagined that its delicious, aromatic flavor vivified 
me like rays of sunshine. If, previously, I had been 
charmed, I now certainly experienced a power of en- 
joyment and quickness of perception tenfold in- 
creased. 

I then inquired for Swedenborg, Spurzheim, and 
Lavatar. " You will meet them further on," said 
she, smiling. " They are not here." I was so well 
pleased with her that I twined my arm around her 
fairy-like form and we glided away together. As I 
desired to obtain a peep at the outside of the beau- 
tiful pavilion, my companion led the way, pausing 
here and there to present me to groups who had 
advanced for that purpose. The company I found 
to be composed of writers and painters, interspersed 
with a few of my own personal friends ; and I felt 
gratified to find myself so well received by those 
whom I had known on earth as celebrities. 

" 'Tis strange," I remarked to my companion, 
"that such choice minds should all be gathered 
together in one place." 

" They are spirits congenial to your own," said she. 
" Like attracts like, and they have come from their 
respective homes in the spirit world to welcome you 
here." 

" Ah," said I, " I now begin to understand what 



183 FBEDEBIKA BBEMEB. 

all this fine company means! This is my recep- 
tion." 

As we were leaving the pavilion we were joined 

by Herr Yon , the celebrated Swedish natnralist 

who had recently entered the spirit world. He con- 
gratulated me irpon my safe arrival, and kindly of- 
fered to act as cicerone and to point ont to me the 
marvels by which I was surrounded. 

To my astonishment, on reaching the open air I 
discovered that the pavilion was located upon the 
summit of a lofty, mountain. The face of this moun- 
tain was of many colors and glistened like precious 
stones. My friend led me to the point of a precipice 
on one side and bade me look down. This I did, 
and beheld phosphorescent rays issuing from the 
sides. 

" What wonder is this ? " I asked. He informed 
me the mountain was magnetic in its character, and 
that it was, so to speak, the first station from earth, 
and a point easily attained by a spirit newly arriving 
from that planet. He said I was not permanently to 
remain upon the mountain, but was placed there 
until 1 should become acclimated to the spirit atmo- 
sphere, and to acquire strength before travelling to 
that portion of the spirit land which would form my 
permanent abode. 

The apex of the mountain formed a flat plain 
about two miles in extent. We walked onward some 
distance, when he pointed out to me another pavilion, 
much larger than the one to which I had been borne. 
The exterior form of each was alike, and resembled 
a Turkish mosque; the crown-like canopy which 



FLIGHT TO MY STARRY HOME. 189 

formed the top being surmounted by a ball so daz- 
zling in brightness that I was obliged to turn my 
gaze from it. This ball was composed of an electric 
combination, which shed its rays far through space. 
" And," said the good Ilerr Yon , " as the pavil- 
ion is used for the reception of the friendless and the 
homeless, they are attracted and guided to it by its 
coruscations." 

We proceeded some steps further, and he showed 
me how the mountain, which is steep and precipitous 
on the northern exposure, sloped into broken chains 
and lower elevations on the southern ; and from this 
point, looking down, I beheld through the clear 
atmosphere a billowy landscape, clothed with soft, 
rich verdure, more fresh and green to the eye than 
that which covers dear mother Earth. 

" How wonderful are thy works, O God ! " I ex- 
claimed, as we retraced our steps. And I could not 
but reflect upon the singular trait exhibited by Jesus 
of frequenting a high mountain to pray. Surely, 
altitude elevates one into the spiritual state, and no 
doubt Christ felt nearer to the spirit world when 
elevated far above Jerusalem, on the mountain-top, 
amid the clouds. Thus, looking down from the sub- 
lime height, I realized for the first time that I too was 
a spirit and an inhabitant of the world in which 
Jesus dwelt ! 



LYMAN BEECHER 



THE SABBATH. 



In the days of my ministrations on earth, it was 
pretty generally believed that the Sabbath day was 
one of peculiar sanctity ; and that the Creator, hav- 
ing completed the creation of the earth in six days, 
had rested npon the seventh from the labor attend- 
ant on that work. But science, which is ever at war 
with the Jewish record, has established the fact that 
the world was not created in that short space of 
time. 

The multiplicity of worlds created also disprove 
the idea that the Creator could have rested during 
any set period of time. 

Some zealous skeptics, to counteract the belief in 
the sanctity of the Sabbath, have asserted that mind 
can never rest, and that as God is a spirit 3 rest to 
him is impossible. 

Even granting this hypothesis, history and research 
have proven the wisdom and utility of the Jewish 
Sabbath, as established by the great lawgiver, Moses. 

The Jews at that time were an active, restless, 

laboring people. Their industry had enriched 

Egypt, and having escaped from her oppressive 

bondage, they were liable, in their efforts to found a 

nation of their own, to carry their habits of industry 

to excess. 

190 



THE SABBATH. 101 

Probably tliey overworked their slaves, their cattle, 
themselves, and the "stranger within their gates." 
Their wise lawgiver, under the direct influence of 
spiritual guides, promulgated this law : " Six days 
shalt thou labor and do all thy work, but the seventh 
is the Sabbath of the Lord ; in it thou shalt not do 
any work, thou, nor thy man-servant, thy maid-serv- 
ant, thy cattle, nor the stranger within thy gates." 

And this commandment has been handed down 
from the Jewish to the Christian nations. With the 
early Jews it was a day of recreation, of dancing, 
and of song. The early Christians employed the day 
at first in social intercourse, afterwards it became a 
day of sacred ordinance; and, as copies of the Scrip- 
tures were rare, they met on that day to hear them 
read, and in their simple faith would select passages 
and apply them to their own necessities. 

When the Christian religion invaded Pagan coun- 
tries and became established, the days which had 
formerly been appropriated to feasting and sacrificing 
to the gods and goddesses became the %st-days 
of the Romish Church. 

When Protestantism arose, she swept off from her 
calendar these fast-days, and returned to the sim- 
plicity of the Jewish Sabbath. 

Puritanism followed and gave a literal meaning 
to the text, " Thou shalt do no work." Under her 
reign, all labor was suspended on the seventh day. 
A strict watch was set upon the actions of the 
individual ; household duties were neglected ; fires 
were not lighted or food cooked. The great world 
of activity stood still. 



192 LYMAN BEECHER 

Rest so severe embittered men's judgment, arid 
the Sabbath became a day for prying into the 
derelictions of each other. A rigid observance was 
placed upon men's actions, and stringent laws were 
made to punish the offender against this enforced 
rest. 

So tyrannous and exacting did the Puritan observ- 
ers of the Sabbath become, that their rigid formulas 
created a rebellion in the minds of the succeeding 
generation, and so great has been the reaction, that 
in our day it has become a common assertion that 
"all days are alike," and the steam-car and the 
horse-car, the coach, and the hack, ply their busy 
wheels through the streets of our large cities, and the 
church-goers travel thereon to their different sanctu- 
aries. 

" All days are alike to God," says the reformer ; 
" why should we observe the Sabbath more than any 
other day ? " I will tell you why : a concentration of 
the spiritual nature of men throughout Christendom 
necessarily creates a magnetic atmosphere through 
which spiritual beings can approach. The sincere 
and devout worshippers in every land congregating 
in churches upon one day, send forth waves of mag- 
netic light which extend into the world of spirits. 
The music and the prayers are borne upward on 
this current, and great batteries are thereby formed 
that cannot but affect the souls in Paradise. They 
respond to the music and the prayers, and worship- 
pers in the churches feel their magnetic influences. 
Those who are sincere in their religious faith say 
that they feel " heaven opened to them." Even those 



THE SABBATH. 193 

wlio attend church from fashion, or for the purpose 
of meeting their friends and neighbors, are there 
brought in contact with spiritual influences which 
could reach them in no other way. 

The experience I have gained since my entrance 
into my spiritual home has given me more liberal 
ideas of the uses of the Sabbath, and taught me that 
to the working man it is a necessary day of recrea- 
tion. But I lift my voice against its becoming one 
of beer-drinking and boisterous sports. The work- 
man who is confined to the bench or the workshop, 
in the midst of a crowded city, for six days of the 
week, will certainly be benefited by seeking the green 
fields and healthful influences of the country; but 
on reaching that desirable Eden, let means be pro- 
vided for his instruction; so, while sitting under 
the leafy trees, his mind may be benefited, and his 
bodily organism rested, rather than injured by feast- 
ing and rioting in the public gardens and parks. 

Field preaching should become a regular institu- 
tion of the Sabbath ; and discourses instructing the 
mind in morals and sciences should be given in the 
tent, or under trees, in parks and woods set apart 
for that purpose. Then would the object of the 
Sabbath be attained. As I have said, the spiritual 
nature is more open to the reception of truth on that 
day. 

The state of sleepiness, which is a well-known at- 
tendant on the Sabbath, is indicative of the magnetic 
influence ; and those who discard the day, and se- 
cretly pursue their active employments, would do 

well to heed the remarks I have made. 
17 



194 L YMAN BEECSER. 

Before I close, I wish, to rnake some observations 
upon the present style of preaching as compared 
with the sermonizing of my day. When I occupied 
the pulpit, the doctrines of election and predestina- 
tion were the principal themes that engaged the at- 
tention of ministers. 

Free will and coerced will were questions which 
puzzled the theologian. Looking upon the Bible as 
an inspired book, the most careless sentence therein 
expressed became a word of weighty import. We 
engaged the minds of our hearers with abstract 
questionings and reasonings. But we never could 
make the doctrine of predestination accord with that 
of free will. !Nor could we clearly account for the 
presence of evil, while we believed the Creator to be 
all wise, all powerful, and cognizant of the end from 
the beginning. Yet these were the topics which the 
minister of my day discussed and endeavored to 
make clear to the comprehension of his hearers. 
We did not treat of every-day life ; the pulpit we 
considered too sacred for such topics. Religion with 
the masses became an abstract state of holiness. Men 
assumed long faces and sober bearings upon the 
seventh day; but their every-day life was some- 
thing different, which the minister and his minister- 
ing did not reach. 

But the pulpits of to-day are platforms of another 
kind. They have altered, even as their shape has 
altered. Their outward construction corresponds to 
their teachings. In my day the pulpit was narrow and 
straight, and was lifted high above the people. But 
at the present day a step only separates it from the 



THE SABBATH. 195 

congregation. It is broad, low, and open. The 
teachings received from it correspond with its change 
of form. The ministers of to-day are one with their 
flock. Their discourses are practical, relating to 
every-day affairs. They no more discuss the ques- 
tions of Satan, of angels, and archangels, nor arouse 
an undefined fear by descanting on the mysterious 
prophecies of Daniel : they talk to you like human 



I remember being somewhat shocked while listen- 
ing to sermons preached by my son, H. W. Beecher. 
I recall sitting near his pulpit, and longing to get up 
and tell the congregation my views of texts and mat- 
ters of which he was discoursing. I thought then 
it was because the race was going backward — be- 
coming less intellectual — that men should be con- 
tent to listen to sermons that contained so little the- 
ology. But experience in spirit life has caused me 
to change my opinion. 

I now see that Beecher, Spurgeon, and a vast host 
of others, are teaching human souls the great truths 
which will fit them for life hereafter. I have done 
now with endeavoring to solve improbable problems, 
and with simple faith in man's efforts for his own 
progression, I give my testimony as to the uses of 
the Sabbath, and the advantages of religion in ad- 
vancing their progress, and in preparing the spirit 
for its future home. 



PROFESSOR GEORGE BUSH. 



LIFE AND MARRIAGE IN THE SPIRIT WORLD. 

The two worlds — the spiritual and the material — 
are like twin sisters whom I have seen, so similar that 
their acquaintances could not distinguish between 
them, and yet so dissimilar that an intimate friend 
would wonder why one should ever be mistaken for 
the other. 

I propose to give a short account of the society 
and conditions of life in the spiritual spheres. 

The Swedenborgian Society of which I was a mem- 
ber while on earth, continues to exist as a body in 
the spirit world, though Swedenborg, the great seer 
and founder of that sect, is not a leader among them. 
He has his country seat in Swedenborgia, a beautiful 
and intellectual settlement named after him, where 
he retires within himself, and directs his great mind 
in developing his science of correspondences, which 
he proposes to arrange so systematically that it will 
become a part of the teachings of earth's children. 

It was never his design to become the leader of a 
sect, but his desire was simply to reveal like a tele- 
scope that which was unknown. Pie is deeply 

interested in the political condition of Sweden, Nor- 

(196) 



LIFE AND MARRIAGE IN SPIRIT WORLD. 197 

way, and Germany, and exerts his vast intellect 
towards emancipating the minds of those nations 
from the bondage of church and state. 

It is curious to witness with what fidelity Sweden- 
borg described in many instances the condition of 
the soul after death; and also to perceive in other 
instances how utterly he misinterpreted the visions 
presented. 

Such discrepancies are incidental to all clairvoy- 
ant states ; and this is not surprising, for it is inciden- 
tal to humanity. 

Man sees clearly when the prejudices of education 
and the influence of his loves do not pervert Ins 
vision. 

What political economist, strongly biased in favor 
of one mode of government, can contemplate dispas- 
sionately an opposing form? 

The theological belief which Swedenborg imbibed 
in his early youth, tinctured his description of the 
heavens and hells of the spirit world, causing him to 
represent the soul as reaching a period in its love of 
evil when it cannot retrace its steps. The hells of 
the spirit are similar to the hells of earth, being like 
them the result of the ignorance and perverted loves 
of animal man. 

What hell more fearful than the hell of licentious- 
ness % Yet it is merely the animal side of the heaven 
of love. 

Swedenborg discovered hells in spiritual existence, 

where the inmates lived lives of prostitution. His 

statement concerning such hells is true. Individuals 

who have lived such lives upon earth cannot suddenly 

17* 



198 PROFESSOR GEORGE BUSH. 

be transformed. Their habits become spiritual dis- 
eases with them. 

!Now, as to marriage, the mere form does not make 
the wife different from the courtezan, but her love 
exalts her above that condition. If she be united 
to a man who is repulsive to her nature, and yet sub- 
mits to his embraces for the considerations of family, 
or home, or public opinion, she is on the same plane 
with the courtezan. 

It is a proposition generally believed, that there is 
a soul-mate for every human being, and it is usually 
supposed that in the spirit world those mates are 
found, and that those united there live together 
inseparably. But as there exists in the spirit world 
the same states, the same variety of progressive de- 
velopment among men and women as in this world, 
so unions are formed there in which one soul devel- 
ops beyond the capacity of the other, and in such 
cases changes must ensue. 

I will now speak of marriages more in detail. 

In the summer land the union of the man with the 
woman occurs from very similar causes to those 
which bring about like unions upon earth — the man 
is drawn to the woman and the woman to the man 
through the operation of a natural law. If instinct 
were not so impaired by the cultivation of the exter- 
nal faculties, there would arise but little difficulty — 
on earth in selecting partners adapted to each other. 
Considerations of wealth and position are permitted 
to influence your selections rather than the idea of 
congeniality and adaptability. 

In spirit life this method is reversed, and the mar- 



LIFE AND MARRIAGE INSPIRIT WORID. 199 

riages formed there are productive of greater hap- 
piness than those among men in the first condition 
of life. 

But as I have stated, marriage in the spirit world 
is not an indissoluble bond. Some minds associate to- 
gether in harmony and expand in the same direction, 
and with these the union is permanent. I have seen 
such in the spirit world, — beautiful and noble souls 
intertwined and aspiring together. 

There be others whose states and conditions after 
a time become changed. Such seek new companions, 
and this is permitted without discredit to the individ- 
uals. 

Many forms of marriage ceremonies are extant 
in the different societies and countries. Garlands of 
flowers and symphonies of divine music are bestowed 
upon the bride and groom. Bright bands of spirits 
from the celestial heavens attend them, for they 
represent in their love and in their wedded joy the 
harmonies of nature ! 

While they love, sin, sorrow, darkness, and all 
evils shrink from sight 

From these spiritual marriages are born soul attri- 
butes. Human beings are never generated in the 
second condition ; they need what is known as the 
material world for their nurture and growth ; and yet 
I understand that in some of the more refined spirit- 
ual existences births have occurred. The beings born 
there are indigenous — not generated by earth parents, 
but offspring of those refined conditions. 

I know not of this as a fact ; yet if we take the old 
Jewish Bible as a history, we find an analogous state- 



200 PROFESSOR GEORGE BUSH. 

merit there in the assertion that Christ was born of 
God in a spiritual state of existence previous to 
entering this earth plane. 

Spirit soils and atmosphere interblend and produce 
trees, shrubs, flowers, and the cereals, but the human 
being, after the second birth, ceases to reproduce his 
species. His children are thoughts born of the spirit. 
After birth succeeds death. The soul passes through 
many stages of existence in the process of refinement. 
The next state of existence to the material, I term 
the spiritual, and the one beyond that the celestial, 
and beyond that the seraphic. 

In the next state, to which I in common with all 
men who have not passed some hundreds of years in 
the spirit world belong, individuals pass through a 
condition analogous to death upon the earth. 

Spiritual bodies are subject to a process of refine- 
ment and decay ; and the soul, as the winged butterfly 
to which it is likened, throws off its cerement and 
assumes a new form. 

But with us the transmigration is not veiled in 
darkness and mystery as with you. We can watch 
the transformation; we can see the spirit emerge 
from its old casement more ethereal than ourselves, 
but still visible; and we can hold communion with 
it. 

So slight is this change with us that your mediums 
seldom touch upon the fact. * 

Spirit is inseparable from matter,' and can give 
neither form nor expression without it. 

The Great Invisible Creator of the Universe must 



LIFE AND MARRIAGE IN SPIRIT WORLD. 201 

have thought of trees, flowers, beasts, birds, fish, and 
the wonderful exhibitions of form through the vast 
realm of matter, previous to their existence. 

But he had to give them shape in matter — perish- 
able but re-creative matter ; and if the Master-mind 
of all cannot express his thought otherwise than with 
this ever changing, yet ever reconstructing thing called 
matter, how can the human soul manifest but through 
a spiritualized condition of matter, ever changing 
yet ever re-creating and refining, mounting higher 
and higher, from the earthly to the spiritual, from 
the spiritual -to the celestial, on — on — till finally 
reaches Deity — himself! 




JUNIUS BRUTUS BOOTH- 



A CTING. 

Alt, great actors are media for spirit influx. It 
would be a marvellous sight if the curtain which 
hangs between the spirit world and the stage were 
uplifted, and the invisible drama which is being 
enacted exposed to view. Then would you behold 
"the airy spirits" to whom Shakspeare so truthfully 
alludes, moving like comets in gorgeous light around 
the inspired actor ! 

Inspiration is motion, acceleration, intensity ; it 
has no part or parcel with lethargy. 

I recall my past experience, portions of which I re- 
view with regret. In endeavoring to obtain this 
energy, tins motion, this acceleration, I was obliged 
in my ignorance to resort to artificial means. A 
knowledge of the laws of spirit life would have en- 
abled me to have avoided this mistake; but that 
knowledge I did not possess. 

The actor of the present day is blessed with the 
knowledge that he has merely to throw himself into 
the magnetic state, and become en rapport with 
spiritual conditions, to find himself inspired — in- 
flated with the divine magnetic current which flows 

(202) 



ACTING. 203 

froni the spirit world to the inhabitants of earth. If 
a player desires to represent a certain character, — let 
it be the subtle, fiend-like Richard III. or the crafty 
Richelieu, — the customary mode of studying such 
characters is to endeavor to imagine one's self to be 
the person. That is the first step towards mediumship ; 
for it is one degree from the natural, towards the su- 
perior state. Usually, through ignorance, the student 
proceeds no further than this point ; and the spirit 
assistants can only partially aid him. But an actor 
possessing the knowledge of placing himself en rap- 
port with these characters, whether traditional or real, 
is immediately cut loose from his surroundings and 
becomes the Richard or Richelieu whom he would 
personate. 

From the brain of every spirit medium ascends a 
blazing sun, which burns the brighter when the 
magnetic relations between it and the spirit world 
are most perfect. This blazing light, this radiant 
effulgence, is perceived instinctively, though not 
knowingly, by every individual who listens to a dis- 
course from a " trance medium." So from the brain 
of the actor this glorious light throws out its rays 
into the assembly, and when he becomes fully in- 
spired, its magnetic influence is felt with overpower- 
ing vividness ; and the result is, the audience them- 
selves are set in motion, and from pit to gallery you 
hear vociferous applause. 

There are actors who are good, and who acquire 
fame, who have never felt this divine afflatus. The 
intellect of the audience appreciates them for their 
declamation, for the art and artifice which they mani- 



204 JUNIUS BRUTUS BOOTH. 

fest ; but tlie humblest and most illiterate of that 
assembly know well that this studied eloquence does 
not fire the brain. 

But it will not do to trust blindly to spirit control ; 
a knowledge and constant study of human nature is 
necessary. 

It is a well-known fact that a person steadily look- 
ing at one point will influence twenty others to look 
at that point also, and to imagine they see some ob- 
ject before them. Understanding this principle, you 
may work upon each attribute in the minds of your 
audience. If fear is to be aroused, do as your neigh- 
bor does as he hastily enters your house after meet- 
ing with a fearful calamity. You become excited 
before even hearing the evil which has befallen him. 
Every faculty can be acted upon in the same manner 
— grief and joy alike. 

Of the ventriloquial powers of the human voice, 
many speakers are ignorant. The tyro on the stage 
wishing to make the remotest individual in his au- 
dience hear, bawls at the top of his lungs. He is 
unaware that the organs of the human voice are 
a kind of electrical machine, governed by the 
will-power, and that the actor has merely to throw 
his will and direct his mind to a given point, for 
his voice to reach that point and produce a far 
more startling effect than the loudest blast that any 
pair of lungs could bring forth. Thus the lowest 
whisper can be made to tell at the farthest corner of 
the theatre. 

But perhaps I have said enough of the methods 
best adapted to produce representations of character 



ACTING. 205 

on the stage. The question may arise in the mind of 
the reader, whether there is any opportunity of exer- 
cising the talent of acting in the spirit world, sup- 
posing that talent to have been cultivated in this. 

In the remotest ages, and among the most unculti- 
vated nations, as well as among the most highly 
civilized, the power of representing human passions 
and events has been exercised instinctively, showing 
this power to be as much a portion of the soul's attri- 
butes as the gift of thought or of fancy. If one 
belongs to the immortal condition, the other does 
also. 

One of the chief enjoyments which the all-wise 
Creator has made attainable to the inhabitants of the 
starry heavens is that of dramatic representations of 
life, character, and events, transpiring in the countless 
worlds that wheel through space. 

The field of the actor for depicting the truths of 
human nature in the world of spirits is vast and 
unconfined ! 

Eloquence is appreciated on earth, but that appre- 
ciation is weak and tasteless compared with the esti- 
mation of that "gift of the gods" by the inhabitants 
of the summer land. 

Some blind, short-sighted investigators tell you 
there is no speech among us ; they would lead you 
to imagine that we inhabit a world blank and void of 
sound ; that stillness more unbroken than the grave 
pervades our mysterious realm. 

Conjure up the picture in your fancy, reader — 
the soul shrinks back from such a state ! The spirit 
world is all voice. Never have I heard notes clearer, 
18 



206 JUNIUS BRUTUS BOOTH. 

louder, deeper, than resound through the electric air 
that surrounds my home. 

The gift of speaking, and of representing individu- 
alities separate from your own identity, is a spiritual 
gift decidedly; and with, us theatres and amphi- 
theatres are as numerous as churches are with you. 
I will leave the description of these structures for 
the ready pen and speech of our friend Burton. 




JOHN WESLEY. 



"THE DIVISION OF THE CHURCH OF CHRIST INTO SEVERAL 
BODIES, AND ITS RE-ORGANIZATION INTO ONE GENERAL 
BODY." 

I will take for my text this sentiment from the 
New Testament: "I will draw all men nnto me, 
and there shall be one chnrch and one people." 

The chnrch which was organized by onr Lord* 
Jesns Christ was designed to establish a feeling of 
brotherhood between separate and distinct classes of 
people, and to abolish the system of castes, which 
was the prevailing sin of the eastern nations. 

Christ made no distinction between the Saddncce 
and the Pharisee, the pnblican and the saint, the 
high priest of the temple and the lowliest of his fol- 
lowers. He placed the affections above the intellect, 
trnth and sincerity above wealth and worldly position. 

The chnrch which he originated for many years 
followed in his footsteps. But as it increased in 
numbers it accumulated wealth, and with wealth 
came power, and from that power issued discord 
and separation. 

Thus, the church divided and subdivided, and split 

* The word "Lord" is used in the sense of an earthly lord 
who cares for his people. 

(307) 



208 JOHN- WE8LET. 

into a thousand pieces, formed new interests, created 
new beliefs, and sowed dissension and envy with a 
free hand. 

Such has been the condition of the church for the 
past ten or twelve centuries. Meanwhile, in the 
Heaven of Heavens, has arisen a powerful move- 
ment directed towards restoring it to its original 
state of purity and simplicity. This great movement, 
like a mighty river seeking its outlet, has rushed on, 
diverging at several points, and at length found the 
reservoir it sought in what is termed Spiritualism. 

The spiritualistic movement opened the gates for 
the expression of skepticism, which the formalism, 
the tyranny, bigotry, and externalism of the Church 
awakened in the minds of the people of every 
enlightened Christian nation ; and the result has 
been a criticism so pungent, and an examination so 
thorough and direct, into the deformities of the 
Church, that she has been obliged to contemplate 
her own condition and the rottenness of her position, 
until she fairly trembles at the view of her disjointed 
parts. 

On every hand now, at the present moment, efforts 
are being made to consolidate — to rejoin. On one 
side you behold the Protestant Episcopal Church 
offering to unite with the Methodists, from whom, 
since my day, they have stood aloof, as an illegal 
and fanatical people whom they could not fellowship. 

On the other side, you see them stretching to the 
Poman Church, forming a brotherly compact of 
forms and ceremonies with Papacy. 

One branch of the Presbyterian Church wears the 



CHURCH OF CHRIST. 209 

robes of the Roman Church, and thus that is linked 
to Catholicism. 

All these denominations which have stood apart 
so long, whose -theology has been so antagonistic, are 
now merging into one Church. 

In the face of the great danger which Spiritualism 
or Liberalism has brought to their sight, they en- 
deavor to return to their first estate, but in returning 
they lose their identity. 

This result is sure, though unperceived by them. 

One by one, they will give up this point of differ- 
ence and that point of difference, this creed and 
that creed, for the sake of harmony. This vestment 
they lay aside, and that form, until they will all be 
swallowed up, and neither Methodists nor Calvinists, 
Baptists nor Lutherans, Armenians, Jews, nor Gen- 
tiles, will remain. Then the primitive Church of 
Christ will be revived again upon earth, simple and 
unostentatious ; its creed will be the creed of Jesus 
Christ : 

"The brotherhood of man, and the love of God 
for his children." 

This creed, you perceive, embraces the whole of 
the spiritualistic faith, which is causing these great 
changes throughout the Church of Christ on earth. 

At this point it will not be inappropriate to make 
some allusion to the mysterious sounds which oc- 
curred in my house in Lincolnshire, England, at 
intervals within the space of three or more years 
during my earthly ministrations. 

These mysterious sounds, even in that day, were 
18* 



210 JOHN WESLEY, 

supposed to have been caused by spirit agency. I 
have ascertained that that supposition was correct; 
and my attention has since been directed to the fact 
in Church history, that every separation from the 
Church body which has originated in a desire to 
return to the simplicity and purity of the primitive 
followers of Jesus, has been attended by similar 
mysterious demonstrations. 

Luther and Melancthon, Knox and Calvin, and 
the earnest dissenters and reformers of every age, 
have been haunted in like manner. I say haunted, 
for they generally have misunderstood the aim of 
these spiritual visitants.* It has devolved upon the 
scientific researches and the skeptical but investi- 
gating mind of the nineteenth century to form a 
process by which the spirit of the departed can com- 
municate with the dwellers in Time. 

To me this science was unknown. Had I been 
acquainted with the facts with which I am now 
familiar, I might have established a more liberal 
Church, but as it was, this daily association with an 
unseen spiritual presence enlarged my views of the 
condition attending the soul after death, and caused 
me to give utterance to thoughts which happily have 
aided in preparing the world for the Universal 
Church which ere long will lift its towering dome 
toward Heaven. 

* The spirit of Bev. Dr. John ]VL Krebbe, of ISew York, states 
through this clairvoyant that the cause of his mental abberra- 
tion while on earth was a misinterpretation by him of a spiritual 
vision which he was permitted to receive. Thus misunderstand- 
ing the aim of his spiritual visitants, he became haunted with a 
fallacy which ultimated in his death. Ed. 



1ST. P. WILLIS. 

A SPIRIT REVISITING EARTH. 

(a fragment.) 

How wondrous I 
Through illimitable space, where myriad suns 
And systems roll their mighty orbs, 
The spirit moves like some strange wingless bird, 
Darting through space with rapid flight 
Until he nears his native home, 
The earth. 

His home no longer; 
He has become the denizen of a world 
More rare and beautiful than earth. 
With quickening pulse and grand emotion 
He gazes down upon the globe, 
Whose habitations he has left- forever ! 
Cities with their palaces and towers, 
Surging seas, leafy forests, and fields of grain, 
The towering mountain and the massy 
Icebergs of the Polar sea sweep past 
His sight like fading visions. 

(211) 



ALLAN" CUNNINGHAM. 



ALONE. 

Fak away from earthly care, 

Free as a bird, I soar through air, 

And think of thee in thy sad, lonely home, 

Watching' and waiting for thy love to come. 

Dost thou hear me call thee, Sweet ! Sweet ! 

Many the years till we shall meet. 

My spirit home is bright and fair 
With flowers and birds and wonders rare. 
Seraphic the faces that on me smile, 
But the one I love is on earth the while, 
Will she hear me calling, Sweet ! Sweet ! 
Many the years till we shall meet. 

Many the years I'll watch and wait 
Till I see thee at the golden gate, 
Then in my arms will I bear thee away 
To my jewelled home where sunbeams play. 
Then together we'll sing, Sweet ! Sweet ! 
Well worth the waiting thus to meet. 



(212) 



BARON YON HUMBOLDT. 



THE EARTHQUAKE. 



This mysterious and awful visitant, which convulses 
the earth apparently without warning, is, however, 
like all the manifestations of nature, preceded by 
signs which the observing and understanding eye 
can perceive and calculate upon as unerringly as the 
astronomer can determine the approach of a comet. 

The inhabitable earth is merely a shell or crust 
over the great mass of uninhabitable matter. The 
world beneath the earth's surface is as diversified as 
the world above. It has its mountains, its streams, 
its plains, its caverns, and its internal volcanoes. 

As fearful storms, accompanied by lightning and 
rumbling thunder, sweep over the earth's surface, so 
beneath the crust occur electric storms, accompanied 
with terrific combustions of gases, which in their 
efforts to escape convulse the outer earth, and in 
many cases rend the shell asunder. 

The earthquake which has recently (August 13, 
14, 15, and 16, 1868) shaken the Pacific coast was 
occasioned by the discharge of the pent-up gases be- 
neath, and also in part by the heated condition of the 
outer surface. 

(213) 



214 BARON VON HUMBOLDT. 

The "tidal phenomenon," as it is called, is the 
effect of the electrical condition of the earth beneath. 
The chemical components of the sea form a sensitive 
magnetic body, which is subject to attraction and 
repnlsion, and as the magnetic enrrent extended for 
several thousands of miles, and was caused by a col- 
lision of negative and positive forces, the sea was 
attracted and repulsed along the whole line of the 
internal commotion by the action of these forces. 

The northern portion of this globe has in times past 
suffered from convulsions similar to those which now 
visit the tropical climates. 

The fearful privations and heart-rending calamities 
which visited the earlier inhabitants of the earth are 
only known to the student of the cosmos of nature 
after he has attained the second birth. 

The forces within and around the earth are now 
in comparative subjugation, but in the earlier periods 
of its existence, while still it was in the process of 
changing from a state adapted to a lower condition of 
animal life to one fitted to a higher state of animal 
and intellectual existence, the elements were in a 
frequent state of rupture and disorder. 

No mortal pen can depict the scene which I re- 
cently witnessed on the occurrence of the earthquake 
on the Pacific coast. Forty thousand souls arising 
amid smoke and blackened clouds of flying stones 
and upheaving earth, with outstretched arms, and 
faces strained with horror, emerging suddenly from 
their old bodies into their spirit-forms — looking awe- 
struck into each other's faces ; a vast swarm clinging 
together almost as helplessly as young bees to their 



THE EARTHQUAKE. 215 

liive — suddenly cut off from their occupations and 
their pleasures, their homes, and their familiar affairs 
of earth ! 

But what they experienced, proud and noble cities 
of the past have experienced likewise. Grace and 
ornament, art and grandeur, beauty, love,, and manly 
strength have been swept away time and again by 
the bursting of the treacherous doors that lead into 
the heart of the earth ! 

Change marks the footsteps of the Creator. The 
solid mountain, the firm, unyielding earth, which to 
the unthinking mind seem durable and eternal in 
their strength, like mankind carry within themselves 
the seeds of their own dissolution. 

Yet the day will come when man, by the aid of 
science, will, through these premonitory symptoms, 
foresee the coming events, even as the wise physician 
can discern the time when his patient's soul will 
leave its body. 

Nature misunderstood is a fearful mystery; but 
understood, she is a simple and beautiful piece of 
mechanism; and the earthquake may not be more 
disastrous than the flood or the avalanche when 
science and experience have taught men to avoid 
the localities of danger, and to watch the horn* of its 
approach, that they may flee before it. 

Nature is never abrupt in her actions. - She her- 
alds her intentions long before she enacts them, but 
as it requires the quick ear of the savage — the child 
of nature — to detect the far-off prey, so it requires 
the student of nature to discover the distant tread of 
the earthquake. 



SIR DAVID BREWSTER. 



NATURALNESS OF SPIRIT LIFE. 

The human mind is subject to false and specious 
reasoning, and time after time opinions which have 
been held and argued upon with seeming logical acu- 
men, have, by further developments and discoveries, 
been proven fallacious. And yet of so elastic a na- 
ture is the mind of man that he is not crushed nor 
discouraged by his mistakes, but immediately com- 
mences to build new theories; but as he establishes 
them by specialties instead of generalities, he is 
again defeated. 

The European mind has adopted a certain line of 
thought respecting the future state of existence, 
which it substantiates by narrow reasonings and iso- 
lated facts. 

Of the future we can only judge by analogy of 
the past with the present. 

Mature ever shadows forth her new developments 
upon the old. 

The many periods or stages through which this 
earth has passed in reaching her present state of re- 
finement, have been stamped one upon the other, so 
that the Geologist can determine definitely what will 

(216) 



NATURALNESS OF SPIBIT LIFE. 217 

be the result of a certain period from the character- 
istics of the foregoing. 

* Now it is educible : if the Creator of the race of 
men who inhabit the terrestrial globe had intended 
for them a future state or destination differing in 
every respect from their present one, he would have 
prepared their minds for different pursuits, and or- 
dained them for other occupations than those they 
follow to the very grave. 

Take man in his most natural condition — examine 
those nations that are most ancient, and unmixed 
with other races — and you will perceive that their 
ideas of a future state were in accordance with the 
life they were living on earth. 

The Asiatic race in burying its dead prepares the 
favorite food of the deceased, the fragrant tea, and 
the money so useful on earth. Also slips of paper 
on which messages are written to departed friends 
are lighted at these burial ceremonies, and reduced to 
ashes, that the spirit of the text may be transmitted 
to their friends in the world of souls. 

In these " Pagan rites," as they are termed, we dis- 
cern the workings of an intuitive belief that the 
spirit of man still retains the sensations, attributes, 
and desires which have accompanied it through life. 

The ancient Greeks and Romans held similar 
opinions, likewise the Africans, Hindoos, and the In 
dians of North and South America. 

By far the largest portion of mankind believe in a 
natural state hereafter, corresponding to their earth 
existence, but the European nations which are sup- 
posed to be advanced in science, art, and philo- 
19 



218 SIR DAVID BREW8TEB. 

sopliical attainments beyond all the. nations of the 
earth, have, in their speculations and in their efforts 
to penetrate the mysteries of the world of spirits, 
lost sight of the natural and entered the superna- 
tural, where they are surrounded by fogs, clouds, and 
ignes-fatui. 

ISTow if these people are told that the spirit world 
is divided into states and continents, cities and towns, 
as is their own world (though under spirit appella- 
tions), they would scoff at the statement. 

But as mankind has a natural love of locality, and 
as congenial minds will select similar locations, 
adapted to their ideas of beauty and comfort, the re- 
sult is that spirit inhabitants unite and form cities 
and towns as on earth. Thus combining, they must 
have some points of interest to occupy their minds, 
and as they still possess their power of construction 
and ingenuity, their love of beautiful forms and of 
architecture, they prefer not to live in the open air 
and on the bare ground (as they can certainly do), 
but choose rather to employ their various faculties 
in building cities and habitations in accordance with 
their tastes and ideas of convenience. 

Once grant that man is provided with a spiritual 
body after he emerges from his original one — 
accept the hypothesis that this body must possess 
form and sensation, and with sensation, eyes, ears, 
mouth, taste, and motion — then you must provide 
means for that body to exist. In providing these 
means you must place him upon a soil capable of 
producing vegetation, where his intelligence may 
compound the various articles adapted to his use. 



NATURALNESS OF SPIRIT LIFE. 219 

Some individuals enter the spirit world deformed, 
some feeble in intellect, some incapable of construct- 
ing or arranging. All these must have provision 
made -for them ; their wants must be supplied. The 
effort to supply want or demand produces a system 
of exchange or barter. 

Many of the inhabitants of the spirit world are 
both good and kind. They are spiritualized in their 
natures, and are influenced by a desire to assist those 
who are needy. 

Nature, or God, has ordained that existence should 
depend upon effort ; that a state of inactivity should 
produce dissolution ; and much the same means are 
taken there to enforce activity as in the material 
world. 

True, some men possess natural gifts, by which 
knowledge is acquired without labor. The power of 
seeing before the demonstration belongs to all human- 
ity. It is the negative form of knowledge ; but com- 
bined with that power is the positive, which compels 
man to desire a visible representation or demonstra- 
tion of the knowledge he has received by intuition. 

The astronomer thus, before he constructs his tele- 
scope, perceives intuitively the very stars which his 
telescope proves as existing, where none are visible to 
the eye. 

It was this active-positive principle, that made 
him construct the instrument ; and in the spirit world, 
as on earth, that active-positive principle acts in con- 
junction with the negative-intuitive one, in impelling 
him to exertion, and forcing him to acquire knowl- 
edge in every department of science, art, philosophy 



220 SIR DAVID BREWSTER, 

and religion. As well expect this earth to rest in her 
revolution and still retain her place in the solar 
system, as to suppose that the spirit of man can lose 
its activity and sink to rest eternal. 

Man is not only active in constructing and explor- 
ing in the spirit world, but he is also engaged in 
inventions. Most of the discoveries that have lessened 
manual labor and made gross matter subservient to 
man's use originated in the land of spirits. The in- 
ventor finds full field for his talents in the superior 
state. 

Man naturally delights in knowledge, and the in- 
dividual who knows how to construct a steam locomo- 
tive finds a thrill of satisfaction in the possession of 
that ability. So does he who can arrange and con- 
struct any piece of mechanism, any domestic tool. 
That feeling of gratification at the accomplishment 
of his plans accompanies man to the spirit life. 

All persons do not follow the same pursuits in 
which they were engaged on earth, yet they adopt a 
kindred and congenial employment. The clergyman 
thinks his work done when he leaves the earth ; but 
in the next state, also, he will find beings who need 
to have their spiritual and moral natures instructed — 
men who desire to be led — who cannot think for 
themselves, but lean upon the thoughts and inferences 
of others. 

So with almost every pursuit — there is opportu- 
nity to exercise it in the world of spirits. The painter 
finds nobler themes for his pencil, more angelic faces 
for his canvas ; and the desire to reproduce them as 
they appear is as intense there as it is here. Al- 



NATURALNESS OF SPIRIT LIFE. 221 

though a spirit can impress his form in color and rai- 
ment upon the sensitive plate in the spirit world, and 
the image remains fixed and permanent (for the 
photographic art is essentially spiritual in its origin), 
that result though definite, is as unsatisfactory to 
some minds in the spirit world as it is in the natural. 
And thus, while persons differ in their desires and 
perceptions, there will be the same varied modes of 
expressing thought in the superior life as in this. 

The question is often asked, " Why should immor- 
tals walk, when they can move with greater velocity 
than light?" 

In return I would inquire, " Why, when men can 
travel by the steam-engine, do they prefer the slow 
movements of the horse ? " 

Again, it is asked, " Why, if spirits can converse by 
thought-language — if they can express with their 
eyes, or impress magnetically their wishes, or the 
words they desire to utter — why should they employ 
their vocal organs % " 

But I rejoin that the deaf and dumb on earth con- 
verse by signs with great celerity, yet would gladly 
express their thoughts with voice also. 

Many trancendentalists and idealists fancy that 
the inhabitants of the spirit world do not converse 
audibly ; yet they would be greatly shocked if told 
that in that world there reigned one vast silence ; 
that sound was unknown ; and yet such a condition 
would exist, if their mode of reasoning were correct. 

No unbiased person would suppose for a moment, 
that song was unheard in this land of the immortals ; 
that the voices of the spirit maidens never burst forth 
19* 



222 SIR DAVID BREWSTER, 

into melody ; and that they could not give utterance 
to their feelings and sentiments, in the warbling 
notes of music ! 

Spirits can read each other's thoughts, although 
possessing a imiversal spoken language, and also re- 
taining in many sections the native dialect they used 
on earth. 

Though the spirit world is a world of marvels and 
miracles, and things unutterable, which the tongue 
cannot express, yet it is a world similar to the natural 
one ; a glorified body of the old earth. 

The soul visiting that new country will not feel 
itself an utter stranger on its shore, but will find that 
it can assimilate with the thoughts and feelings of 
the residents of that land, and the knowledge and ex- 
perience which it developed on earth will be useful 
to it there. 

If the teachers on your planet, and those who in- 
struct concerning the condition of the soul after 
death, would employ the same reason and intelligence 
that they exercise in investigating any other obscure 
subjects — either chemistry, astronomy, or natural 
philosophy, — they would arrive at more truthful data 
respecting the spirit globe which ultimately they are 
all destined to inhabit. 



H. T. BUCKLE. 



THE MORMONS. 



Looking upon the world, the voyager through 
space discerns vast tracts of land, uninhabited barren 
wastes, and immense forests echoing only the tread 
of the wild beast and the cries of birds of prey. 

It becomes the duty of the political economist to 
reclaim these lands and place them in the hands of 
civilization. 

How is this to be done % Shall it be by following 
in the beaten track of custom ? No : it can only be 
accomplished by the zeal of the enthusiast. 

Joe Smith was an inspired man ; even as Columbus 
was he inspired. Through his agency a colony was 
started near the dismal Salt Lake. Through his 
agency, and by the aid of his apostles or followers, the 
hardy men and women from the overcrowded popu- 
lation of Europe, cramped by man, and priest-ridden, 
have been brought across the ocean into republican 
America. They have been placed in this seemingly 
unpropitious Salt Lake country. There they have 
founded a city ; they have erected factories and mills. 
The steam engine, the plow, and the sewing ma- 
chine have aided them ; and now, in place of a com- 

(223) 



224 H. T. BUCKLE, 

pany of barbarous peasants, ignorant and benighted, 
and steeped in poverty, you find them transformed 
into energetic, intelligent citizens, surrounded with 
comforts and luxuries. 

And all this has been brought about by a religious 
enthusiast ; by an enthusiast whose religion is believed 
to be inferior to the religion of Protestants. 

Imagine for a moment what result would ensue 
from a movement of this kind set on foot by the fol- 
lowers of the Protestant religion as it is taught by 
the churches of the present day. No theatres or 
places of amusement would add gayety to the sombre 
city. The dance and the sound of mirth would be 
hushed. The inhabitants would walk ever in solemn 
fear of . the awful future that might await them ; 
they would despise their physical frames, crucify 
their passions, and trample under foot the most divine 
attributes of their nature. 

But the religion of the Mormons is a natural 
religion; it is primitive. They people the world 
even as God peopled it in the time of Abraham and 
Isaac. 

They enrich the state by their tithes. They bring 
in their corn, their wine, and their fruits, as offerings, 
and the state pays them back by improving their 
roads and building houses for instruction and plea- 
sure for them. 

Their domestic system, which has been so much 
despised and ridiculed, does not greatly differ from 
the custom of the civilized world. Such as are 
wives with them become with you the neglected 
women of the town. What with you is considered 
dishonorable, with them becomes honorable. 



TEE MORMONS. 225 

The man of wealth in Utah does not concentrate 
his riches on a few relatives ; he distributes it among 
his many wives and numerous children. In all 
times, nations which have grown rapidly and have 
been developed in arts and sciences have been 
peopled in the same manner. The female element 
introduces into a community taste, ornament, and 
grace. Look at California previous to the emigration 
of women to that land ! Misrule and misery reigned. 
It is a law of nature that men and women should be 
united. In the present form of civilization, a large 
proportion of women are compelled to remain single, 
and their usefulnesss to community and humanity is 
dissipated. The Mormon system eradicates this evil. 

The progress of civilization points to a time when 
a magnetic relation shall be established between all 
the inhabitants of earth ; when the globe shall form 
one vast circle of mind as it does now of matter. At 
present the chain is broken ; the intermediate spaces 
are not filled up by population. The spirit world is 
using all its skill to bring about this magnetic con- 
nection, but till this is complete the magnetic rela- 
tion between the spirit world and earth cannot be 
perfect. 

Wise intelligences in the world of spirits have 
originated and guided the Mormon movement, and 
these intelligences will develop new communities 
under similar auspices. The legislators of the land, 
the Napoleons of the day, would do well to investi- 
gate the policy of the leaders of Utah. 

The crimes common in your large cities are not 
known among the Mormons. They live on friendly 



226 H. T. BUCKLE. 

terms with the red men of the plains, and are just in 
their dealings. 

Each citizen is taught that the public welfare is 
his own welfare. In your own large towns the citi- 
zens shirk public -duties; but in Utah there is a 
oneness of feeling, which it would be well for those 
who consider themselves superior in the scale of 
civilization to imitate. 






~ 




--::- f- =.--. i -..=r •■■•■ 



W. E. BURTON. 



DRAMA IN SPIRIT LIFE. 

"Honor pricks me on. Yea; but how if honor 
pricks me off when I come on \ How then ? Can 
honor set-to a leg? No. Or an arm? No. Or 
take away the grief of a wound ? No. Honor hath 
no skill in surgery, then ? No. What is honor ? A 
word. What is that word, honor? Air. A trim 
reckoning ! Who hath it ? He that died o' Wed- 
nesday. Doth he feel it? No. Doth he hear it? 
No. Is it insensible, then ? Yea, to the dead. But 
will it not live with the living ? No. Why ? De- 
traction will not suffer it." 



What is honor ? A mere word. What is Heaven ? 
A word — a phantasy. A vaporish place, too deli- 
cate and subtle for such fun-loving, corpulent speci- 
mens of the Creator's wisdom as old Jack Falstaff. 



O rare Jack Falstaff ! He was a child of nature, 
and to my thinking, his homely phrases displayed 
more intuitive knowledge of the laws of nature than 
the finest transcendental imaginings ever discovered. 

We shock the feelings of a thousand playwrights 
and play-goers by asserting that in this impalpable 
land of souls we are* guilty of encouraging the play- 

(227) 



228 W. E. BURTON. 

house! But so it is; we cannot live on "honors;" 
the fame and glory which has been awarded to us 
by our fellow-men on earth is like chaff to us. 

It was with hardly an emotion of surprise that I 
beheld theatres in the spirit land, though I have seen 
many who, having been fed on the false system of 
religion, and pampered on glittering imaginings, 
start back with alarm on beholding the magnificent 
buildings we have erected to the drama, thinking, 
that by some strange turning, they had entered 
through the wrong gate. 

The drama with us is a source of both enjoyment 
and instruction. The history of past ages in the 
spirit world is enacted with thrilling interest, and 
each new spirit from earth has an opportunity thus 
to become acquainted with the transactions of the 
past in the land of spirits. 

The gay and brilliant theatre of which I have been 
induced to take the management, is original in its 
structure, and of a light and beautiful style of archi- 
tecture. The balconies are suspended and movable. 
Outside the building, and overlooking a placid sheet 
of water, are galleries connected with and corres- 
ponding to those within, where persons who desire 
may pass out during intermission, and regale them- 
selves with the fresh fruit and the fine prospect. 

The partitions are constructed of light frames 
with ornamented pillars, covered with a fabric re- 
sembling parchment. As the climate is warm, the 
partitions on the outside of the gallery are merely 
trellis-screens, and the whole building is open in 
structure and perfectly ventilated. - 



DRAMA IN SPIRIT LIFE. 229 

The plays which are enacted are generally com- 
posed by persons in the spiritual condition. We 
have many good farces ; and an unending source of 
material for amusing plays is found in the relation- 
ship between the spirit world and earth, and the 
eccentric conditions growing ont of that relationship. 
For instance, there is a laughable comedy being 
enacted at my theatre, depicting the adventures of 
a pious merchant, who, after the toils and cares of 
life, becomes a resident of the spirit world. 

The graces and beauties of the angelic women 
whom he meets on every side enamour him ; he for- 
gets his past life, forgets the wife who has ruled him 
on earth, and in a moment of ecstacy chooses another 
mate. 

While in the enjoyment of his bliss, and sur- 
rounded by bands of immortals, the news runs 
through the electric wire that his earth-wife is 
deceased, and has come in search of him. The 
consternation and fear of the poor man furnishes 
ample occasion for amusement, hilarity, and fellow- 
sympathy. 

Our tragedies are cast in a higher mould ; many 
of them are more sublime than those of earth, rep- 
resenting the catastrophes of worlds. We also have 
dramas which awaken the affections, representing the 
condition of those from earth who are neglected, or 
who, in consequence of a long career of vice and 
misery, cannot be approached by friends. 

These brief hints will give a slight idea of the 
source and character of our dramatic representations. 

Some men are born actors, as others are born 
20 



230 w. M. BUliTON. 

painters, poets or preachers ; and in the spirit world 
they can no more lay aside those powers which have 
become a part of them, than they can lay aside the 
gifts of observation or reflection. Understanding 
this fact, it will not surprise yon to learn that those 
most famous in the histrionic art exercise their 
talents to listening thousands in the spirit world. 

Garrick, Kemble, Kean, Booth, Cooke, also Rachel, 
Mrs. Siddons, and a host of illustrious actors of dif- 
ferent nations, are now " treading the boards " of 
spiritual theatres. 

Their time, however, is not exclusively devoted to 
the exercise of these gifts, as on earth. A consid- 
erable portion is spent in the study of the arts and 
sciences ; and many a noted actor becomes an able 
painter or musician, and many a low comedian a 
philosopher. Our life is one round of pleasant 
progression. 

What I have said about our attractive theatre and 
my enjoyable condition, I hope will not induce any 
of you, my fellow-players, to emigrate to these shores 
before you are sent for ; but, like good Jack Falstaff, 
I trust you will live in your own world as long as 
you can, and when Dame Nature is done with you, 
we will give you a hearty welcome and a free jpass 
to the dress circle. 



CHARLES L. ELLIOTT. 



PAINTING IN SPIRIT LIFE. 



My friends know that I was not much given to 
writing or speaking, and I reluctantly answer the 
call that has been made for me to give my views on 
art in the spirit existence. 

The old masters whom we have worshipped from 
boyhood, Raphael, Titian, Michael Angelo, Da Yinci, 
and all the illustrious names of the Bolognese and 
Venetian schools of art, have passed away from this 
sphere of spirit life, and no longer walk the streets 
of these wonderful cities which they have adorned 
with their works. - 

Reynolds, however, is with us still, and most of 
the army of painters who have been born on earth 
since his day, here live in bodily shape ; and I have 
had the pleasure of meeting many admirable geniuses 
of the French, German, and English schools, and 
have seen some of their extraordinary works, which, 
for diversity of subject and majesty of conception, 
seem to rival omnipotence itself ! 

The great majority of American artists are secretly 
spiritualistic in their faith, and believe that they can 
be inspired by departed painters. Innes, Page, 

(231) ' ■ 



232 CHARLES L. ELLIOTT. 

Church, and Powers, have each felt and acknowl- 
edged the inspiration of the spirit of some great 
master in art. 

I must confess that these masters are not existing 
in the sphere occupied by spirits who visit earth, and 
will explain the manner in which they impress per- 
sons congenial and partaking of like sympathies with 
themselves. 

I am informed that it is not material to what sub- 
limated sphere they may have ascended ; it is merely 
a mesmeric influence which they exert over their dis- 
ciples,' and this influence can penetrate through all 
degrees of matter. 

The reason why all artists are not alike inspired 
by the great masters is that they are not all subject 
to mesmeric influence, or on the same plane of 
thought. 

Every disciple of high art, I have no doubt, has 
observed the magnetic quality which seems to pour 
forth from the canvas of any great master. 

This arises from the brain effluvia which they have 
left upon the canvas, which is more powerful in its 
quality than a grain of musk, which will impart its 
odor for a hundred years. 

The colors which the artists here use are formed 
upon the same model as those they have been in the 
habit of using on earth. They are more brilliant 
pigments, but color has always the same origin. 
Some paint with the brush and some paint with 
their fingers. 

I had heard it remarked that the spirit had only to 
breathe on the canvas, and his thought would be rep- 
resented, painted, and shaded in a second of time. 



PAINTING IN SPIRIT LIFE. 233 

The substance of this statement is correct, but 
there is a slight misapplication of the facts. 

'Tis true we have the power which we had on 
earth to a modified degree, of projecting the desired 
form upon the canvas. I remember always, after 
looking at my sitter, I could trace in imagination on 
the canvas the outline and expression of his counte- 
nance. This is what we do : the power of execution 
is so rapid that the time required for painting a 
picture might with you pass for a moment ; but it is 
only a trained artist whose thoughts and comprehen- 
sion are skilful enough to produce an effect so 
rapidly. 

Those who have not learned to give form and 
shape to their ideas while on earth have to pursue a 
more painful and laborious process. 

The modern school of color differs widely from 
the Venetian, being crude, cold, and sharp in com- 
parison ; and, in accounting for this difference, I can 
simply state that one can only represent what one 
sees. 

The poetic, dreamy age, when men saw nature as 
through a veil, is past ; the matter-of-fact, investiga- 
ting mind has lifted that veil, and now sees objects 
as if in mid-day ; but, as no condition is stationary, I 
am told that the mind is gradually moving on in the 
world of art to a point where it will again see 
nature in a more subdued and generalized light, as 
under the declining sun. 

The past represented the morning, the present 
exhibits the noonday, and the future will indicate 
the evening. 

20* 



234 CHARLES L. ELLIOTT. 

Such is the constant revolution of mind, and its 
revolution though slow is certain. 

In our works of art, sentiment is the prevailing 
characteristic. Portraits are in great demand. 

Spirits send portrait-painters to earth to obtain 
likenesses of their friends ; and those spirit-artists 
who have the power of seeing the lineaments of these 
friends and portraying them are constantly engaged. 

Leutze has been employed by Lincoln and others 
to represent scenes in the American rebellion ; and 
Colonel Trumbull, also, has executed some magnifi- 
cent pictures of the battles of Seven Pines, Fair 
Oaks, and a skirmish at Hampton Poads. 

Stuart has completed a splendid portrait of Gen- 
eral Grant, and is now engaged by John Jacob Astor 
on a likeness of a beautiful lady dwelling on earth. 
I have received a commission from Mr. James Harper 
to paint a portrait of his daughter, who occupied the 
carriage with him when he lost his life. I am at 
present engaged on a likeness of a lady residing at 
Albany. 




COMEDIAN'S POETRY. 



ROLLICKING SONG. 



Hurrah ! hurrah ! my boys so bright, 
For merry ghosts meet here to-night. 
We'll sing and dance till dawn of day, 
Then up we'll mount, away ! away ! 
Then up, up, and away ! 

We live in spirit land so gay, 
And with grim Satan's fires we play. 
You need not fear the future state, 
For we will meet you at the gate. 
Then up, up, and away ! 

Come, friends of earth, and read our bill, 
'Tis called the "sugar-coated pill ;" 
'Twill sweeten all life's bitter care, 
And lead you up, the saints know where. 
Then up, up, and away ! 

Come laugh with us each man and wife ; 
A player's stage is earthly life ; 
The sting of death is only a prick, 
And hell the parson's " trap-door tricky 
Then up, up, and away ! 

Here's Garrick, Booth, and Kean so bright, 
They shine like stars to give you light. 
So haste and join the merry throng, 
And loudly swell our happy song. 
Then up, up, and away ! 

(235) 



LADY HESTER STANHOPE. 



PROPHECY. 



The star of prophecy shines in the east. To those 
nations who were first in the order of creation be- 
longs by right the power of investigating the mys- 
teries of life. 

The people of the East have been known in all past 
history for their gift of prophecy. 

As water gravitates to its level, so I gravitated to 
the East. 

I left my native land, and for many years sojourned 
among the wandering Arabs. This course of ac- 
tion was not understood by my countrymen. They 
could not see the mystic star that drew me away from 
their busy haunts. The Magi of the East had stood 
at my cradle and endowed me with the noble gift of 
the Seeress. 

The power of reading the future does not belong 
to the Northern people. It is the darkest and deep- 
est well that reflects the star above it ; the dark and 
swarthy East is thus endowed. The pale North can- 
not give out impressions. I was an exception to this 
rule. 

There are those who at birth are possessed of East- 

(236) 



PROPHECY. 237 

ern spirits — Asiatics. Andrew Jackson Davis is not 
a Northern man — he is an Asiatic. Look at his 
olive complexion, his keen eye, his beard and hair of 
jetty black, his visage, — all betray the race which 
inspired him. 

The faculty of discerning the future belongs only 
to certain races, and it cannot be universal. Many 
spirits profess to read the future, but few can do so 
correctly. 

Yet the life of man is mapped out in every partic- 
ular, even before his birth. Men are like planets. 
The future of the planet Earth could have been fore- 
told before it was thrown off from the sun and while 
it was yet in a molten state ; so each step in an in- 
dividual life could be foretold : yet it requires ability 
to enter into the peculiar magnetic condition in order 
to obtain the power of foretelling. It may be said 
if the future of man is thus mapped out, even as was 
the creation and progression of the earth, it becomes 
merely a scientific affair to prophesy the future of any 
given individual. This is true, but the inquirer will 
observe how many hundreds and hundreds of years 
science has been engaged in discovering facts concern- 
ing this world's history. The eye of prophecy could 
foresee those facts and foretell them, though it could 
not lay down any scientific basis in regard to them. 

The events which will take place to-morrow may be 
said to have already transpired. 

The water that is rising from yon creek will increase 
in volume. Conditions which have been for days and 
weeks in preparation will suddenly conspire, causing 
the stream to rise to such a height that the city will 



238 LADY HESTER STANHOPE. 

be overflowed, bridges swept away, and certain indi- 
viduals submerged by the current and their lives lost. 

This disastrous occurrence is governed by a law 
which the keen observer of nature could have fore- 
told years previous to the event. 

As in the natural world the traveller in the desert 
beholds the mirage of some city which is hundreds of 
miles distant, suddenly arising upon the sandy waste, 
so, in the spirit world, the spectrum form is projected, 
and events which are to take place are made visible be- 
fore their actual occurrence. But, as in the natural 
world spectrum forms occur only under certain at- 
mospheric conditions, so in the spirit world it is the 
conjunction of circumstances and the blending of 
magnetic currents that make it possible for coming 
events to be revealed upon the level plane which is 
set apart for this purpose in the summer land. 

Man at the present day is so constituted that a re- 
vealment to him of coming events in detail would be 
injurious ; and experience proves that such disclosures, 
when made to him in dreams or otherwise, are profit- 
less, as he always fails to foil the evil of which he is 
forewarned. 

History and biography show that individuals have 
time and again, been admonished by their assiduous 
friends of evils or calamities that were to befall 
them, yet the admonition, though timely given, sel- 
dom enabled them to avoid their fate. Men have 
been warned of murderous assaults, but they have not 
evaded them; premonitions have been given of fall- 
ing buildings, and these have fallen, involving in 
their destruction the loss of the individual's life at 
the precise date which his dream foreshadowed. 



PROPHECY. 239 

The time will, come in the far future when man 
will understand prophecy as a science. There are 
few persons living at the present day, who, looking 
back upon their past history, would conscientiously 
wish it had been all revealed to them at the outset of 
their career. 

The withered, faded beauty, at the dawn of her 
life of youthful triumph could not have endured a 
vision of the haggard unfortunate wretch which she 
would represent in the course of a few years. 

These remarks apply more especially to the so- 
called civilized state of society at the present day. 

The semi-barbarous nations, so termed, are in 
closer sympathy with nature. Life and death, pros- 
perity and adversity, are to them as natural effects as 
the sunshine and rain of the terrestrial globe. 

Their equanimity, their perfect repose upon the 
bosom of nature, causes them to see more clearly 
into the future than do civilized nations. There is a 
spirit of prophecy which does not comprehend the 
detail, and only takes cognizance of the grand events 
of life. 

This prophetic condition is attainable by every 
being in a certain state of exaltation. 

The poet, the painter, the statesman, the preacher, 
can alike in moments of ecstacy ascend this mount of 
inspiration, and foretell the advancement of the 
world in relation to art, science, and spiritual develop- 
ment. But the oracle, the sybil of the East can pene- 
trate a height beyond and above this mount, and can 
perceive the detail of an individual life in its mi- 
nutest events. 



240 LADY HESTER STANHOPE. 

The Bible prophecy which foretold that "knowl- 
edge should cover the earth, even as the waters cover 
the sea," and that " the wilderness should blossom as 
the rose," was given in an ecstatic vision, and was 
simply a spiritual comprehension of the power of soul 
over matter. 

As a knowledge of distance is relative, a keen per- 
ception on the part of the prophet revealed to him? 
as he beheld the birds soaring in air, that the journey 
to lands beyond the sea was no greater distance to 
those winged creatures than a few miles would be to 
him. The prophecy Isaiah made more than eighteen 
hundred years ago, is fulfilled to-day. Science has 
annihilated space ; knowledge becomes universal, and 
the wilderness disappears. 

The sages of centuries agone are animating the 
bodies of to-day. The doctrine of pre-existence is not 
a fable, yet to have lived two lives belongs only to a 
chosen few, or those whom a fortuitous circumstance 
has blest. 

Napoleon was one of these. The spirit of a great 
warrior took possession of him at birth. 

But the condition of a pre-existing soul taking pos- 
session of a body can occur only under peculiar 
circumstances. The soul principle is male and fe- 
male, and its perfection depends upon the two sexes 
as much as the formation of the body depends upon 
the coalition of the two. In states superinduced by 
opium or intoxicating liquor upon one party, the 
spirit principle becomes deadened so that an active 
immortal spirit may take its place. 

This male and female spirit principle, after forming 



PROPHECY. 241 

a magnetic relation by the joined bodies, lies inactive 
in the sonl atmosphere of the mother until material 
birth. If, as is sometimes caused through accident, 
there is but one spirit principle active, the child when 
born will be idiotic. If the male or female spirit of 
the pre-existing intelligence is of superior order, then 
the child, as its intellectual faculties develop, will dis- 
play extraordinary abilities, which will be in accor- 
dance with the peculiar development of the pre- 
existent spirit. 

The history of individuals thus circumstanced can 
be more clearly discerned than others. Prophecy in 
bold and clear characters foretells the events which 
will transpire in their earth life. 

In like manner Jesus, the celebrated child of 
Bethlehem, had lived apre-existent life on earth He 
had reigned over a people in his previous life, a wise 
and loving king. Vague remembrances continu- 
ously fluttered across his vision and colored the 
thoughts to which he gave utterance. 

When his mother conceived him, she was not con- 
scious ; delirium of religious ecstacy, superinduced by 
priestly influence, rendered her oblivious to events, 
and enabled this wise, tender, loving king to take 
the place of the native spirit. Christ never married 
in this life, because the spirits which possessed him 
were not male and female.* 

The power of foretelling the future is yet in its in- 
fancy. Coming events are said to cast their shadows 
before ; and as the barometer indicates to a skilful eye 

* The well-known eccentric character of this writer while on 
earth may partly explain the singular views here set forth. Ed. 






242 



LADY HESTER STANHOPE. 



the approach of a storm when no sign is visible in the 
calm sky above, so the events which will befall an 
individual are marked upon the delicate spiritual 
barometer which forms a part of his being, and can 
be read with unerring precision by the clear and 
practiced eye of the optimist. 




PROFESSOR MITCHELL. 



THE PLANETS. 



The worlds of light that nightly illume the firma- 
ment of earth are not mere spheres of uninhabit- 
able matter, nor are they simply appendages to earth, 
— glittering ornaments to attract the eye of man, — 
but vast systems of suns and tributary planets, with 
worlds whose products and inhabitants far exceed 
in organized development those of this little planet 
Earth, whose astronomers are just beginning to realize 
the capacities of the worlds revealed through their 
telescopes. 

Many of these worlds have existed centuries prior 
to the formation of the planet you inhabit, and their 
inhabitants have attained a degree of civilization 
which only time can give to you. 

The intellectual development of many of the 
dwellers of these planets, is as far superior to your 
highest state of culture as your condition is in ad- 
vance of the first stages of barbarism. 

Men of earth erect temples to their God — their Dei- 
ty — which to them are imposing and grand ; but com- 
pared to the magnificent structures that rear their 
towers high into space from those glittering points 
that attract your eye, they are poor and insignificant. 

(243) 



244 PROFESSOR MITCHELL. 

Yet, as being the highest expression of your intel- 
lectual unfolding, we look npon them with admira- 
tion, even as yon regard the rude attempts of the 
Egyptians and the earlier races in their grotesquely 
formed images and temples. 

The inhabitants of some of the planets attain a 
life many times the duration of man's. One of the 
causes of this prolonged existence is the great age 
and refinement of the planet. While it is undergo- 
ing change, and preparing the vegetable for the ani- 
mal, and the animal for the mental creation, the con- 
ditions that ensue are insalubrious, and conducive to 
disease and death. But when the perfection of the 
natural world is attained — when it becomes, so to say, 
spiritualized, and its grosser elements are absorbed — 
then the human being can live on its surface and de- 
velop his faculties from century to century. 

The thoughtful reader will perceive from this 
statement that the spirits who have inhabited these 
superior planets must have attained a far greater 
perfection than those -who have inhabited your earth, 
and the spiritual existence, or heaven, to which such 
beings migrate, is in advance of the heavens in which 
the dwellers of earth are born. 

The spiritual heavens correspond to the firmament 
of the natural world, and thus there are myriads of 
systems of spiritual worlds. 

The residents of these planets visit earth as elder 
brothers who take by the hand the little faltering 
infants. But intercourse with the earth is more diffi- 
cult for them than for your own native spirits, from 
the fact that the magnetic atmosphere does not assimi- 



PROFESSOR MITCHELL. 245 

late with them. From the earth's spirit world, scien- 
tific minds of rare development only have been able 
to visit the spirit homes of those planetary inhabit- 
ants. 

"What I have said can give but a faint idea of the 
population of the unseen worlds. As a drop of water 
which is clear and unoccupied to the eye, when 
viewed through the microscope is found to be peo- 
pled with living creations, so the worlds that over- 
spread the heavens are peopled in every part that the 
eye can cover. 

Man is indeed nothing; and yet he is the whole — 
a mere speck, a point, and yet God himself in the 
aggregate. 




DE. JOHN W. FRANCIS. 



THE INFLUENCE OF MIND UPON MATTER, AND THE CAUSES 
OF INSANITY AND THE VARIOUS DISEASES WHICH AFFLICT 
HUMANITY A T THE PRESENT DA Y. 

The rude nations of the earth believed that disease 
was the result of evil spiritual agencies, and the 
untutored savage, without the aid of books or any of 
the advantages which the learned physician possesses 
of studying the human system, arrived at the conclu- 
sion that disease was inflicted by living, unseen 
individualities. 

Science has discarded that idea. . It has dissected 
the human body, and, finding the result of the dis- 
eases, has assumed to have found the cause ; assumed 
that it is mere bodily disarrangement. Yet any 
intelligent physician will tell you that in his own 
experience he has witnessed the effect of mind upon 
the body ; that he can give a bread pill to a patient, 
informing him that it is a purgative, and it will act 
in that manner; that a certain powder will create 
nausea or a burning sensation, and it will produce 
those results when the powder itself is harmless. 

As the body, if permitted to decay, comes to be 
infested with vermin, so the spirit, if allowed to 
remain idle and inactive, will become infested by 
21* (246) 



DI8EA8E AND INSANITY. 247 

spiritual vermin which will taint and destroy it; and 
the savage idea that disease is caused by spiritual 
agency is correct. 

If an individual permit any one idea to obtain 
predominance, and he dwell upon that idea to the 
exclusion of other thoughts, he will attract spirits 
who fill the air — not organized spiritual beings who 
inhabit the spirit world, but half-organized beings 
(polypus) who live in this atmosphere and were 
originated from the brains and the physical organ- 
isms of the inhabitants of the earth; these beings, 
finding his mind concentrated or magnetized to a 
point, will effect an entrance. Suppose, for instance 
the person centres his mind upon the loss of a friend 
or of money: this concentration becomes a magnet, 
which, like the rays of sunlight acting upon a por- 
tion of vegetation, produces decomposition upon 
which spirit vermin may feed. So by dwelling too 
continuously upon one thought, certain faculties of 
the mind become excited by constant action, while 
others become paralyzed and the result is insanity. 

Now spiritualists, or believers in spirit intercourse, 
should be the most healthy persons in the community, 
for they understand, or should understand, the laws 
of psychology which teach that constant dwelling 
upon one thought will bring spirits of like character 
who will intensify that thought, and they also know 
that they have but to use their will and the whole 
magnetic relations will change and a new influence 
will be brought to bear. 

Tell a man he has heart disease, make him believe 
it, and his heart will beat like a sledge-hammer. 



248 J)R JOHN W. FRANCIS. 

Tell idni his liver is diseased, niake him believe it, 
and he will feel bilious and look bilious. 

Tell a man he looks well, compliment him upon 
his appearance, and he will feel well, look spruce, 
and his spirits will become elastic. 

It has been a matter of surprise to some why the 
spirits have taken such an interest in the science of 
medicine, and wiry they have developed so many 
as healers. It is that they may teach man that dis- 
ease is generally a magnetic condition ; and they hope 
to teach the community, through those physicians 
whom they develop, to discard drugs and rely upon 
magnetic influences and the power of the will to 
keep the body in its normal condition of health. 

Too much stress cannot be laid upon the power of 
the will in dispelling disease, and in expelling it. 

A diseased patient may be likened to a medium 
who is possessed by a spiritual being of low order. 
The very low condition of the spirit causes him to 
adhere and cling to the medium, and unless the will 
is directed to exorcise him, he will keep his subject 
continually under his influence and the proper indi- 
viduality of the person will be annihilated. 

Thus, disease, like an evil spirit, takes its hold upon 
an individual, and can only be overthrown from its 
position by a strong will, which sends it shrinking 
away like a criminal from the body it has infested. 

If the will of the patient is not sufficiently strong, 
then the will of some good friend must be used. 
These good friends are known as healing mediums. 
Also a change of air and scene should be obtained, 



DISEASE AND INSANITY. 249 

which brings the will into a new action, and thns 
dislodges the tenant. 

The will is like a sharp two-edged sword, which 
cuts right and left, and leaves no chance for skulking 
to anything to which it has directed its power. 

I will close my remarks by repeating that the 
savage is right in his belief, and that disease is 
indeed the result of — I might call them spiritual 
harpies, who, though they may not in these civilized 
times be driven out by the beating of drums, the 
tom-tom, and the howling of frenzied savages, yet 
can be dislodged by kindred manipulations, such as 
mesmeric passes, deep breathing, and a positive 
though almost quiet exercise of the will. 

Some of my brethren of the profession will be 
surprised to iind these views advanced by one whom 
they believe held more rational opinions on earth; 
but there are others whose keen intellects have 
pierced through the wisdom of the schools, and have 
discovered that the physics they have concocted, 
when applied to the complex mechanism of the 
human system, in palliating the disorders of one 
function disarrange some half a dozen others, and 
that the soul and the body are so interblended that 
we must heal a disease of the body through and 
in conjunction with the spirit, its counterpart. 



ADELAIDE PROCTER. 



THE SPIRIT BRIDE, 



You told me you loved me, and vowed of old, 
When you reached that land of jasper and gold, 
To me you'd return in the hush of night, 
And show me a glimpse of your land of light. 

I sit in the shadows, and wearily wait 
To see you throw open the starry gate : 
Through my golden ringlets the chill winds blow, 
While I watch your coming through falling snow. 

How long must I wait ? Are you ling'ring where 
The blue-eyed angels your sweet kisses share ? 
Is your home so radiant that never more 
Your steps will be heard at my lowly door ? 

Ah ! what do I see through my blinding tears ? — 
What misty form through the tempest appears ? 
A cold hand now touches my burning brow, 
A low voice whispers, ' ' I am near thee now. " 

Bend low — let me kiss thee, thou viewless thing j 
No rising passion thy cold lips bring ; 
But hushed is the throb of my burning heart 
As upward he bears me — no more to part. 



THE END. 



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